Make California Post a Preferred Source California Democrats should thank the conservative Supreme Court. It’s the only reason they can still govern anything at all.
Sure, Democrats have promised to destroy the Court as we know it if they win the presidency.
They plan to pack — ahem, “expand” — the Court by adding at least four seats and filling the vacancies with left-wing activists.
Governor Gavin Newsom says he’s “open” to the idea. Senator Adam Schiff is all-in.
For now, with control of the Senate for the foreseeable future, Democrats can also block conservatives from being appointed to the Court by a Republican president.
But while Democrats decry the 6-3 conservative majority, largely because of decisions like Dobbs, which sent abortion policy back to the states, the fact is that the conservative justices have been the adults in the room who have protected Democrats from their own worst tendencies.
Take, for example, a case decided this week in LA County Superior Court.
Judge Daniel M. Crowley tossed out a ridiculous lawsuit that has been running for a decade against the City of Santa Monica.
The suit was brought by left-wing Malibu attorney Kevin Shenkman, who has made a career out of suing cities to force them to change their city council systems.
Shenkman has used — or abused — the California Voting Rights Act to force towns all over the state to move from a traditional at-large system, where all of the residents decide on each seat, to a district-based system.
The argument he makes is that minority candidates are denied a chance to compete under an at-large system.
The assumption he makes is that a white majority — no matter how “progressive” — will rarely give a non-white candidate a fair chance.
Even if white voters have no intent to discriminate, they can’t help themselves — so the argument goes.
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Shenkman demands that cities carve themselves up into districts so that minority candidates, usually Latino, can win. If they comply, they pay a settlement and he goes away. If they refuse, he sues.
Usually, he wins. But Santa Monica, furious that its liberal credentials had been questioned, fought back.
The case went back and forth for a decade. But this week, Judge Crowley noted that the Supreme Court had decided in April, in Callais v. Louisiana,to restrict the use of racial gerrymandering in drawing voting districts.
The vote in that case was 6-3, with the liberals in the minority.
Since a district cannot be drawn specifically for one racial group, Judge Crowley said, Santa Monica cannot be forced to change its system of elections.
So the left-wing city, known to some residents as “The People’s Republic of Santa Monica,” can continue on, as before.
The “progressives” in Santa Monica can thank Trump for that.
Likewise, in the Grants Pass case in 2024, the Court ruled 6-3 (with liberals in the minority) that cities and states can clear homeless encampments.
That immediately allowed California Governor Gavin Newsom and local leaders to begin removing homeless people from parks and other public spaces.
Newsom welcomed the decision: “Today’s ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court provides state and local officials the definitive authority to implement and enforce policies to clear unsafe encampments from our streets,” he said.
“This decision removes the legal ambiguities that have tied the hands of local officials for years and limited their ability to deliver on common-sense measures to protect the safety and well-being of our communities.”
Grants Pass was a major reason that California began to make progress in the fight against homelessness over the past few years — even though LA’s homeless population began to grow again.
If the liberals on the Supreme Court had their way, homeless encampments would be much harder to remove than they already are.
With rare exceptions, the liberal justices vote in a bloc, and usually endorse the Democratic Party agenda.
The conservatives on the Supreme Court are more independent-minded. They often frustrate President Trump, because they are not shy to rule against his policies and his party.
The Court struck down Trump’s tariffs, for example — not because California wanted it to, but because the president had relied on an untested use of emergency powers.
No, the conservatives don’t always come to the best conclusions. But generally, they restrain the extreme tendencies of both left and right.
And without them, California would be in a state of paralysis.
Democrat-run cities would be ungovernable, thanks to far-left policies and mercenary liberal attorneys.
So the next time a Democrat — especially a California Democrat — demands changes to the Supreme Court, remember that without that 6-3 conservative majority, “blue” cities would be even worse off than they are.
And maybe Santa Monica should send Trump a thank-you note.
Joel Pollak is Opinion editor of the California Post.
