OMNI
UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT
ANTHOLOGY #1
September 4, 2025
Compiled by Dick Bennett
for a Culture of Peace, Justice, and Ecology
What’s at Stake: “Since Citizens United v. Federal
Election Commission in 2009, the Court has been at war with any
effort to limit the political influence of the rich."
CONTENTS
“The Supreme Court's Key Role in Polarizing American
Politics” by Garrett Epps.
The SC Undermining
the EPA’s Ability to Slow Climate Change by Jared Sexton.
The new Supreme Court ruling devastating for the
climate, wildlife and people by John Noel.
Supreme Court Rulings Drastically Weaken the EPA and Strengthen
State Control of Elections by Paul Waldman.
New Book: THE NINE HAVE SPOKEN: The Nation vs. The Supreme Court, 1870 to Today
by Richard Kreitner.
TEXTS
Supreme
Court, Citizens United Ruling (2009), Economic Inequality, Oligarchy
“The Supreme Court's Key Role in Polarizing American
Politics” by Garrett Epps, The Atlantic. RSN 9-27-2013.
Epps writes: "As for the Court's role in dark money, I don't need
to say much. Since Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission in 2009,
the Court has been at war with any effort to limit the political influence of
the rich."
READ
MORE
CONSTRAINING
THE EPA
“The heart of the matter”
by Jared Sexton.
Editor. Mronline.org (7-3-22).
The Supreme
Court's undermining of the EPA's ability to fight climate change brings the
terms and stakes of the current crisis into blinding focus.
Originally published: Dispatches From A
Collapsing State on June 30, 2022 by Jared Yates Sexton (more by Dispatches From A Collapsing State) (Posted Jul
02, 2022)
Climate
Change, Ecology, Environment,
StrategyAmericas,
United StatesNewswireSupreme
Court, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
Before
we dive into the Supreme Court’s disastrous 6-3 decision to eradicate the
Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to combat climate change, we must
first turn to the past.
The founding of the United States of America is so wildly
misunderstood that it’s become depressingly laughable. The revolt of 1776
and the penning of the Constitution were not divinely inspired, nor were they
simply momentous events that sprung from some irrepressible desire for freedom.
These stories we are told are fairytales designed to simplify and mystify the
workings of our world.
America’s push for independence was largely predicated on a
desire by wealthy individuals to escape the financial arrangement with England
and the timing of that revolt, in line with the birth of the system of
capitalism, with an emphasis on property, is not coincidental. When the
Founders began arranging a system of government, they designed it with a total
emphasis on protection of property and every system was created specifically to
curb democratic impulses through checks and balances preferencing white,
wealthy men.
Now, to the present. Climate change is an apocalyptic threat and
the result of the industrialization that created our modern world. Our system
of production and consumption have brought us now to the edge of oblivion and
any actual solution to the problem lies not with you or I recycling but with
states reckoning with the problem. The Supreme Court, founded as a backstop in
that system I described, is doing its job as it was designed. It is protecting
the right of property and the pursuit of profits from any and all interference.
. . .
“How is
this justice for our climate?” by John Noel.
Greenpeace. (Date not given, 2020?) Fri, Jul 1, 5:35 PM (4 days ago)
In this stupid 6-3
ruling, the highest court in the land has handed down a dangerous and
irresponsible decision that severely limited one of the most effective
tools for addressing the climate crisis.
The Supreme Court has just limited
the ability of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to regulate emissions
from power plants — which are one of the biggest emitters of
carbon-based pollution.
This ruling is going to hurt
people. It’s going to hurt wildlife. It’s going to make it
easier for business owners to challenge clean air regulations. If there was
ever a doubt that this Supreme Court favors the powerful over the people, it’s
gone!
But we’re not done. I
promise you Greenpeace is going to keep on fighting. We’re not going to let
radicals in robes put our future at risk. Please fight alongside us by making your emergency gift to
Greenpeace Fund now!
This Supreme Court has shown a
willingness to decimate women’s rights, voting rights, and union organizing.
Now, they’re literally aligning with fossil fuel interests against the best
interests of the American people.
In 2018, air pollution from
burning fossil fuels like coal and gas was responsible for about 1 in 5 deaths
worldwide. These justices have ruled in favor of sacrificing more lives to
enrich millionaire coal and oil barons.
What they’ve done dramatically
weakens the Clean Air Act — one of the most important environmental laws of the
last 50 years. Presidents have, quite reasonably, used it to help regulate
carbon-based emissions, which is critical to preventing the worst impacts of
climate change.
But the big fossil fuel companies
and the politicians in their pockets didn’t like that one bit.
19 attorneys general and two coal companies challenged the EPA’s authority.
We must call on governments and
corporations to shift their mindsets from exploitation to protection, and build
a truly sustainable future for all! Please raise your voice for the oceans and the planet by giving
to Greenpeace Fund now. . . .
John Noel
Senior Climate Campaigner, Greenpeace
“EPA ruling tips court’s hand” (Arkansas
Democrat-Gazette), Jul 01, 2022.
The recent Supreme Court term fulfills longtime Republican dreams,
including curtailing the EPA’s ability to control CO2 emissions, and it
announced it would next increase state control over elections.
https://edition.arkansasonline.com/article/282381223241001
“EPA ruling tips court’s hand” by
PAUL WALDMAN . Arkansas
Democrat-Gazette (Jul 01, 2022). Read more...
OR Books <info@orbooks.com> 9-3-25
THE NINE HAVE SPOKEN: The Nation vs.
The Supreme Court, 1870 to Today by Richard
Kreitner. OR
Books, 2025.
Featuring
contributions by Elie Mystal, I. F. Stone, Jamie
Raskin, Katha Pollitt, Jedediah Britton-Purdy, Patricia J.
Williams, and Charles Warren.
The
first book in the Nation Books x OR Books co-publishing
project argues our reactionary Supreme Court is no aberration, but the endpoint
of a long history of demands for a democratic, accountable judiciary that have
gone unheeded.
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