© Greg Nash
Justice Amy Coney Barrett
As the U.S. Supreme Court's newest member, Justice
Amy Coney Barrett immediately became enmeshed in a controversy that the high court, for its own sake and that of the country, must decide this week.
In an indefensible act of partisan muscle-flexing and judicial usurpation of legislative power,
Pennsylvania's Democratic-controlled state Supreme Court overturned a perfectly valid statute, enacted by the state General Assembly, that required all mail-in and absentee ballots to be delivered to the appropriate county board of elections no later than 8 p.m. on Election Day. Unlike the federal judiciary, which is insulated from electoral politics, Pennsylvania judges are elected. As is the custom of partisans driven by politics, as opposed to detached magistrates guided by law,
the Democratic majority ruled 4-3 to modify the statute for purposes of the upcoming election.
The ostensible rationale was the coronavirus pandemic. That is yet another indicator of judicial imperiousness: Like the rules governing elections, health care regulation is principally a public policy area to be addressed legislatively, not determined by litigation. In their wisdom,
although the four-judge Democratic majority admitted that the statute at issue was validly enacted and substantively sound, they nevertheless amended it, dictating that the counting of ballots must continue through Nov. 6 - three days after Election Day.
Comment: GOP senators are calling for a special counsel investigation. From The Daily Caller: