The Illegitimate Supreme Court’s Threat To The Labor Movement

A Case For Court Expansion

In the United States today, the labor movement is under attack at every level, the economy is rife with inequity, and democracy is at a perilous crossroads. These dire trends are all thanks in large part to a successful decades-long campaign by corporations and the wealthy to enact anti-worker, pro-corporate policies, largely through the courts and judges hand-picked by these same powerful interests. This right-wing court-packing campaign has led to Supreme Court decisions assailing workers’ ability to take collective action, form strong unions, enforce their rights, and be safe on the job; and also to decisions targeting the Voting Rights Act, permitting extreme partisan and racial gerrymandering, and allowing tsunamis of dark money to flood our politics making it exponentially more difficult for regular Americans to fight back at the ballot box. These rulings have meant that corporations and the wealthy have amassed more and more money and power, while ordinary people have less and less.

It is no accident that attacking workers’ rights has been a major focus of this right-wing campaign. The attempts to weaken the labor movement, the inequity in our economy, and the decay of democracy are all mutually reinforcing. Historically, we know that this toxic mix can propel us down two different paths. One leads to authoritarian demagoguery. The other leads to meaningful reform that promotes government policies that close income and wealth gaps, meet the needs of those who are struggling, and re-commit people to democratic institutions that prove capable of addressing their concerns.

As interest in unionization and collective action has increased in recent years, as evidenced by successful union drives at Starbucks, Amazon, and other retail and fast food companies, powerful attacks on the labor movement have and will continue to increase in kind. And corporate attacks on worker power have gotten a boost thanks to anti-worker Supreme Court decisions, which directly affect workers’ ability to join together and improve their workplace through collective action. 

In other words, the Supreme Court – which is supposed to be a neutral arbiter of the law – is effectively doing favors for corporations, allowing them to hoard as much wealth as possible by placing workers’ rights on shakier and shakier ground. This has left an economy of haves and have-nots, in which many people work multiple jobs but still cannot provide for their families, while a few powerful corporations and extraordinarily wealthy individuals have immense power.

But the news is not all bleak. There is more energy behind union organizing and strikes than there has been in years, and the percentage of workers who support unions and say they would join a union if they could is at a record high. The current wave of grassroots organizing and strikes reflects workers’ extraordinary frustration with the injustice of their working conditions, and their understanding that joining together with their coworkers gives them the best shot at improving their jobs and communities. 

A strong labor movement is necessary to achieving both an economy that works for everyone and a successful multiracial democracy. But right now, the Supreme Court itself is standing in the way of that goal.

To allow the resurgence of a strong labor movement and the creation of a functioning multiracial democracy, the labor movement and its allies should support the Judiciary Act to add four seats to the Supreme Court.