Thread by @yhazony

This says adding liberal judges to the US Supreme Court will save the Court’s legitimacy.

This is true: It will make the Court legitimate in the eyes of those who think that only liberal institutions are legitimate. theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/…

The question is: Why should liberals get to decide that only liberal institutions are legitimate?

The whole point of democracy is that some institutions are liberal and some are conservative—and yet both kinds are legitimate.

The problem is that the US Supreme Court has been a liberal institution since at least the 1960s. In all that time conservatives have granted legitimacy to that liberal institution.

What liberals are telling us now is that the US Supreme Court cannot become a conservative institution and retain its legitimacy.

In other words: “I win or I take my marbles and go home.”

This is a replay of the declaration of a “resistance” against the Trump presidency.

Now it is ramping up to become a “resistance” against a conservative Supreme Court.

But obviously, you can’t have a democracy if only one of the two major parties is considered legitimate.

That’s called one-party rule. It’s oligarchy, not democracy.

The only way out is for prominent liberals to start saying: “I don’t want a conservative Court. I don’t like a conservative Court. But a conservative Court is a legitimate outcome under a democratic system of government.”

This has to be said straight. With no “buts” attached.

Liberals have to grant legitimacy to a conservative Court, just as conservatives have been granting legitimacy to a liberal Courtfor more than 60 years.