Why You Need to Vote for Clinton

First, let me persuade you that the only issue that matters for liberals (and conservatives) in this election is the Supreme Court. It seems possible that the next President, who may serve for eight years, will get to fill at least 1 and maybe 2-3 vacancies (1 existing, 1 for Ginsburg, and 1 for Kennedy).

Do you care about pay equity? Too bad. Campaign finance reform? Doesn't matter. You want more regulations of firearms? Who cares. Clinton will be gridlocked by a Republican House (and Trump likely gridlocked by a Democratic Senate). Your only avenue for seeing your policy preferences become law is the Supreme Court.

Tipping the Supreme Court away from the conservatives (where it has been for almost 50 years!) is therefore the most important issue of this election for liberals. The last liberal Supreme Court gave us many rights you take for granted, like the right to counsel in a state criminal case and the "one person, one vote" standard. Those were not obvious consequences of our constitutional system. They were revolutionary legal arguments, at the time they were made, that have become legal orthodoxy.

With a liberal majority, particularly a majority cemented by Justice Kennedy retiring, you have the power to return the Second Amendment to its actual meaning, to re-visit campaign finance laws, and to advance dozens of other legal arguments that will fail if the Court continues to be dominated by conservatives. Do you think it is wrong for someone to be fired because they are gay? Well,that is legal in a majority of states. Not if the Court decides that sexual orientation is a protected class deserving of heightened scrutiny. Do you think that police officers have too much inherent power to harass minorities? So does one of the Justices who would occupy the majority if Clinton is elected. The list goes on.

Even if Clinton acts through executive order the Supreme Court can rule the action unconstitutional (as they recently did with Obama's exercise of enforcement discretion in the deportation of undocumented persons).

Congress is not going to suddenly start protecting your privacy, or do away with overzealous criminal prosecutions or state police powers. But the Supreme Court can. No one is in a better position to boost civil rights protections (including preserving Roe), limit the brutality with which federal and state governments can prosecute the war on drugs, or reform campaign finance than whoever tips the Supreme Court's 5-4 majority. Obtaining a majority on the Supreme Court is the only way you, or anyone else, is going to see their preferences become law.

Now, if you want to ensure that the Supreme Court tips liberal (or even moderately liberal) you should vote for Clinton. She is the only candidate for whom you can vote that will be able to tip the majority of the Supreme Court. That's just the truth.

If you vote for anyone but Clinton, you are doing something other than ensuring that progressives realize policy victories. And that might be your goal. You might want to make a statement about political parties. You might want to express your disdain with Clinton, the Democrats, or whoever else. But all you are doing is making a statement, at the expense of millions of people who could benefit from you using your vote to effectuate progressive causes (by tipping the Supreme Court).

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