'Legal vigilantism': Experts warn SCOTUS rulings will 'galvanize' right-wing after 'losing' for decades

10 July 2023

As the U.S. Supreme Court's decisions reflect the court's conservative justice's ideals, far-right voters are becoming more empowered.

According to The Guardian, right-wing researchers predict the court's recent ruling ending affirmative action on the basis of race is just the beginning of their fight against progressive ideals.

"A little taste of victory is going to make them want a lot more," George Washington University Graduate School of Political Management professor Matt Dallek told The Guardian.

Dallek explained, "for decades," the far-right movement has "been losing and they don't believe they'll reverse what they see as a disastrous state of affairs in two supreme court terms: 'It's a much larger project.'"

Now, right-wingers are looking to what Berkeley Center for Right-Wing Studies chair Lawrence Rosenthal named "legal vigilantism," which The guardian defines as "an aggressive, lawsuit-threatening tactic used to intimidate universities and private institutions to comply with the new rulings."

Center for the Study of Hate & Extremism director Brian Levin referred to the affirmative action decision as a path to "all kinds of vile and racially bigoted statements."

He emphasized, "Now you have unbroken lines from extremist groups promoting Ann Coulter to extremist groups promoting more vile material," noting, "They can jump from one lily pond of hate to another toxic and more nauseating one."

Levin added, "even strands of violent extremism will find their way into civic discourse."

In addition to race, The Guardian notes:

Lindsay Schubiner, director of programs at Western States Center, reported that far-right groups are bolstering their ability to organize and build grassroots power around bigotry. She pointed to the rise of Moms for Liberty, a well-organized anti-LGBTQ+ group with more than 100,000 self-reported members, as a key group to watch due to its effectiveness in countering inclusionary policies in schools. The far right's goal, she explained, is a broad rejection of LBGTQ+ people from public life, including elected office, community leadership decisions and their ability to access services.

"Grievance is incredibly important to the foundational mythos of Maga. If it's not abortion, it's something else: Trump being persecuted by the dictatorial justice department, the threat of the woke mob, the demonization of blue states. There's always one if not more enemies that are internal to the country," Dallek added.

He emphasized, "It's never enough because there is always a sense that people in power are corrupt and un-American, that they are destroying the value."

The Guardian notes, according to Levin, "This supreme court decision, he predicted, will be used to further anchor and galvanize racial discrimination against Black people while serving as an affirmation for white nationalists that white people have been cheated – part of their narrative of white supremacy."

The Guardian's full report is available at this link.

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