Ari Paul: Battle to Replace Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia Looms as Major Election Issue

Award-winning Investigative Journalist Robert Parry (1949-2018)

Award-winning investigative journalist and founder/editor of ConsortiumNews.com, Robert Parry has passed away. His ground-breaking work uncovering Reagan-era dirty wars in Central America and many other illegal and immoral policies conducted by successive administrations and U.S. intelligence agencies, stands as an inspiration to all in journalists working in the public interest.

Robert had been a regular guest on our Between The Lines and Counterpoint radio shows -- and many other progressive outlets across the U.S. over four decades.

His penetrating analysis of U.S. foreign policy and international conflicts will be sorely missed, and not easily replaced. His son Nat Parry writes a tribute to his father: Robert Parry’s Legacy and the Future of Consortiumnews.

Thank you for donating

If you've made a donation and wish to receive thank you gifts for your donation, be sure to send us your mailing address via our Contact form.

See our thank you gifts for your donation.

The Resistance Starts Now!

Between The Lines' coverage and resource compilation of the Resistance Movement

"The man who predicted Trump presidential win now says Trump impeachment could happen," AM Joy with Joy Reid, MSNBC, Jan. 21, 2018
"Sketchy Kazakh money finds its way into Trump dealings," The Rachel Maddow Show, MSNBC, Jan. 15, 2018
"Red flags seen in many Trump real estate deals," The Rachel Maddow Show, MSNBC, Jan. 15, 2018
"Secret Money: How Trump Made Millions Selling Condos To Unknown Buyers," BuzzFeed, Jan. 12, 2018
"The Scandals of Donald Trump: Presidential Edition," The Atlantic, May 15, 2017
"Here's what we know so far about Team Trump's ties to Russian interests," Washington Post's ongoing compilation
"What Comey Was Investigating, Explained," The Moscow Project, Center for American Progress

"Donald Trump's Financial Ties to Russian Oligarchs and Mobsters Detailed In Explosive New Documentary from the Netherlands," Dutch TV documentary, Alternet.org, May 12, 2017
Ongoing compilation of Trump's creeping authoritarianism," MotherJones.com
Full resource list ...

SPECIAL REPORT: "The Resistance - Women's March 2018 - Hartford, Connecticut" Jan. 20, 2018

Selected speeches from the Women's March in Hartford, Connecticut 2018, recorded and produced by Scott Harris

SPECIAL REPORT: "No Fracking Waste in CT!" Jan. 14, 2018

Jen Siskind Jennifer Siskind, local coordinator for Food and Water Watch, describes the campaign to stop fracking waste in Connecticut, which so far has led to fracking waste bans in 34 towns around the state. Interviewed by Richard Hill on Mic Check, WPKN Radio, Bridgeport, CT

SPECIAL REPORT: "Resistance Round Table: The Unraveling Continues..." Jan. 13, 2018

Lindsay Kanaly The panel discusses Trump's long history of racism and the Republican voter suppression juggernaut confronting Democrats leading up to the 2018 elections. Special guest: Lindsay Kanaly, a lead organizer of the Women's Marches planned for Jan. 20, 2018. Panel: Scott Harris, Ruthanne Baumgartner and Richard Hill on Resistance Roundtable, WPKN Radio, Bridgeport, CT.

SPECIAL REPORT: "Capitalism to the ash heap?" Richard Wolff, Jan. 2, 2018

Richard Wolff, Economics professor Richard Wolff declares U.S. capitalism to be beyond repair and suggests the need for a radical alternative. Interviewed by Richard Hill

SPECIAL REPORT: Maryn McKenna, author of "Big Chicken", Dec. 7, 2017

Maryn McKenna, investigative journalist and author of Big Chicken, talks about the widespread use and dangers of antibiotics in commercial poultry, beef and fruit production. Interview by Bill Duesing, Richard Hill and Guy Beardsly on WPKN's Organic Farm Stand.

SPECIAL REPORT: Nina Turner's address, Working Families Party Awards Banquet, Dec. 14, 2017

Nina Turner, president of Our Revolution, talks about the fight ahead for progressives as she receives the Working Families Organization Award for Exceptional Leadership Towards Advancing Progress. The event was held in Meriden, CT. Produced by Richard Hill.

SPECIAL REPORT: Mic Check, Dec. 12, 2017

Working Families Party of CT talks strategy and issues for 2018.
Lindsay Farrell, executive director of the Working Families Party of Connecticut, discusses the state's electoral landscape and lays out the issues and strategies that could lead to progressive victories in 2018. Interviewed by Richard Hill.

SPECIAL REPORT: Resistance Roundtable, Dec. 9, 2017

Disturbing developments in the Trump/Republican Agenda
Focus on the tax bill, destruction of our public lands, North Korea and Trump's private CIA. Panel: Scott Harris, Ruthanne Baumgartner and Richard Hill. Special guest: Jo Macallero of Rise and Resist.

SPECIAL REPORT: On Tyranny - one year later, Nov. 28, 2017

Professor Timothy Snyder, author of the highly acclaimed resistance manual On Tyranny, discusses his book and offers a fresh assessment of the state of our beleaguered republic. Timothy Snyder, history professor at Yale, is introduced by Stanley Heller, administrator of Promoting Enduring Peace, a Connecticut-based organization that sponsored this event at the United Church Parish House in New Haven on Nov. 28. A brief interview with Snyder conducted by WPKN radio producer, Richard Hill, follows his talk.

SPECIAL REPORT: Mic Check, Nov. 12, 2017

Lynne Ide, director of program and policy with the Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut, talks about the current state of health care coverage in Connecticut. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

SPECIAL REPORT: Resistance Roundtable, Nov. 11, 2017

Focus on the Republican tax plan, the just-released autopsy on the Democratic Party, and Internet censorship by Google, Facebook and Youtube. Including an interview with Hilary Grant, a lead organizer with Action Together Connecticut, who discusses the local results of the recent election, with hosts Richard Hill, Scott Harris and Ruth Baumgartner WPKN producers

SPECIAL REPORT: Rainy Day Radio, Nov. 7, 2017

Two leaders from Redneck Revolt, an anti-racist, anti-capitalist movement, talk about their work organizing with white working class people in Suffolk County, New York. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

SPECIAL REPORT: Rainy Day Radio, Nov. 7, 2017

Bruce Gagnon, coordinator for the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, describes the extent of -- and motives underlying -- the vast US network of military bases around the globe. Interviewed by Richard Hill, WPKN radio producer

SPECIAL REPORT: Resisting U.S. JeJu Island military base in South Korea, Oct. 24, 2017

Joyakol, South Korean peace activist and singer, discusses the crisis on the Korean peninsula and focuses on the resistance to the U.S. huge military base being constructed on Jeju Island. The event was sponsored by the Greater New Haven Peace Council and this audio was recorded by Richard Hill, WPKN producer.
Joyakol discusses Americans' biggest misconceptions about the conflict between North and South Korea and the U.S., Interview by Richard Hill, WPKN producer.

SPECIAL REPORT: John Allen, Out in New Haven

John Allen, founding director of the New Haven Pride Center, Connecticut, talks about his new LGBTQ television show, Out in New Haven, which presents a range of political and cultural issues to the community. Interviewed by Richard Hill on WPKN's Rainy Day Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2018.

2017 Gandhi Peace Awards

Promoting Enduring Peace presented its Gandhi Peace Award jointly to renowned consumer advocate Ralph Nader and BDS founder Omar Barghouti on April 23, 2017.

Subscribe to our Weekly Summary & receive our FREE Resist Trump window cling

(Car window cling)

Email us with your mailing address at contact@btlonline.org to receive our "Resist Trump/Resist Hate" car window cling!

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE...

who helped make our 25th anniversary with Jeremy Scahill a success!

For those who missed the event, or were there and really wanted to fully absorb its import, here it is in video

Jeremy Scahill keynote speech, part 1 from PROUDEYEMEDIA on Vimeo.

Jeremy Scahill keynote speech, part 2 from PROUDEYEMEDIA on Vimeo.

Between The Lines on Stitcher

Between The Lines Presentation at the Left Forum 2016

"How Do We Build A Mass Movement to Reverse Runaway Inequality?" with Les Leopold, author of "Runaway Inequality: An Activist's Guide to Economic Justice,"May 22, 2016, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, The City University of New York, 860 11th Ave. (Between 58th and 59th), New York City. Between The Lines' Scott Harris and Richard Hill moderated this workshop. Listen to the audio/slideshows and more from this workshop.

Listen to audio of the plenary sessions from the weekend.

JEREMY SCAHILL: Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker "Dirty Wars"

Listen to the full interview (30:33) with Jeremy Scahill, an award-winning investigative journalist with the Nation Magazine, correspondent for Democracy Now! and author of the bestselling book, "Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army," about America's outsourcing of its military. In an exclusive interview with Counterpoint's Scott Harris on Sept. 16, 2013, Scahill talks about his latest book, "Dirty Wars, The World is a Battlefield," also made into a documentary film under the same title, and was nominated Dec. 5, 2013 for an Academy Award in the Best Documentary Feature category.

Listen to Scott Harris Live on WPKN Radio

Between The Lines' Executive Producer Scott Harris hosts a live, weekly talk show, Counterpoint, from which some of Between The Lines' interviews are excerpted. Listen every Monday evening from 8 to 10 p.m. EDT at www.WPKN.org (Follows the 5-7 minute White Rose Calendar.)

Counterpoint in its entirety is archived after midnight ET Monday nights, and is available for at least a year following broadcast in WPKN Radio's Archives.

You can also listen to full unedited interview segments from Counterpoint, which are generally available some time the day following broadcast.

Subscribe to Counterpoint bulletins via our subscriptions page.

BTL Blog

[an error occurred while processing this directive]

Special Programming

[an error occurred while processing this directive]

Progressive Resources

A compilation of activist and news sites with a progressive point of view

Share this content:

|

Subscribe to BTL

Podcasts: direct or via iTunes

Subscribe to Program Summaries, Interview Transcripts or Counterpoint via email or RSS feed

If you have other questions regarding subscriptions, feeds or podcasts/mp3s go to our Audio Help page.

Between The Lines Blog

Stay connected to BTL

Learn how to support our efforts!

Tweets by @BTLRadioNews

Battle to Replace Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia Looms as Major Election Issue

Posted Feb. 17, 2016

Interview with Ari Paul, New York City-based journalist, conducted by Scott Harris

With the death of the Supreme Court's longest serving justice Antonin Scalia on Feb. 13, new political battle lines were drawn over the fight to replace him. Just hours after the rigidly conservative justice's demise, Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell asserted that the nomination of a replacement should wait until after the November 2016 presidential election, an opinion shared by other GOP senators and presidential candidates. But President Obama has pledged to fulfill his constitutional duty by nominating a successor "in due time."

Scalia, appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1986, was the court's most influential conservative member. He promoted an originalist interpretation of the U.S. Constitution, opposing the more progressive approach of contemporary ratification, where each generation must interpret the Constitution according to changes in society. During oral arguments in a pivotal affirmative action case in December 2015, Justice Scalia suggested that African-American students might belong at less rigorous schools than their white counterparts. In overturning a key section of the Voting Rights Act in 2013, Scalia said the legislation was a "perpetuation of racial entitlement." The late justice was also well-known for his conservative, anti-gay and lesbian views.

Between The Lines' Scott Harris spoke with New York City-based journalist Ari Paul, who has covered politics for The Nation, Vice, The Guardian, Dissent, Jacobin and many other publications. Here, he assesses Scalia's conservative legacy and the coming battle over nominating a replacement. He begins by reviewing some of the important cases now pending before the high court that will be affected by Scalia's death.

ARI PAUL: One of the biggest ones of course, is the recently argued Frederichs v. CTA (California Teachers Association) which is a case that would've very much affected all public sector unions in the United States. The case would've imposed a right-to-work regime over all public sector unions. That would mean that anyone who does not want to join the union in a certain workplace that is unionized, would not have to pay dues. Currently, those people who don't want to join a union have to pay an "agency fee" that covered the collective bargaining rights and all the benefits that they get along with union representation. This would sort of allow people to opt out in a workplace, that would very much cripple a lot of public sector unions – especially teacher unions – because the members' due money is how these unions operate.

So if they're losing 20 to 30 percent of their membership dues, this very much means layoffs. It's very difficult for them to operate. This was argued in January. It had unionists extremely nervous because they knew it would be a close vote, but at the hearings, it was very clear to everybody that all five conservative justices were buying the anti-union argument being presented there, and most unions were preparing for a new right-to-work regime coming in June.

So, with the death of Scalia, that leaves everything at about a 4-4. And this kicks the case back down to the original 9th Circuit decision which upheld the current union-dues regime. Now that kind of gives labor a reprieve for awhile. It's not exactly a victory. This would mean that either the case would have to be reheard before the full court in the next term, so this could kick the can to possibly 2017 or the more likely situation is that the anti-union organizations that have backed these right-to-work lawsuits will simply find another test case and present it and they'll have another chance. Now, we don't know who's going to replace Scalia, so that totally remakes the landscape. But it's definitely a reprieve for labor and on a number of other issues, especially the case out of Texas with affirmative action. There was a fear that among some people that there would be a 5-4 decision striking down the ability to use any kind of race-based affirmative action in admissions in higher education. That's also thrown to the wind. So there's a lot of cases, but those are sort of the big ones that are cited in the news.

BETWEEN THE LINES: One of the cases I've been reading about is the redistricting case where conservative forces are trying to contend that only voters should be counted in congressional districts when it comes to designing and mapping out new congressional district maps. And of course, that would negate counting underage citizens, non-citizens and others who don't have the right to vote – prisoners, as well, of course. What't the import of that case do you think?

ARI PAUL: Well, this really is a part of the almost, sort of, half-century long battle that the political right has waged through the judicial realm to undo a lot of the progress of the 1960s and the 1970s. If you read Jeffrey Toobin's book, called "The Nine" about the Supreme Court, actually lays it out fairly well and Scalia was very much part of this sort of multidecade-long movement to undo a lot of the legal progress, and part of that is the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act. So he was very much a part of these cases that would have the court say, "Well, these things were necessary in a time of social upheaval and a time of transition, but they don't fit for 2016. We've made a lot of progress since then; it's time to undo these things."

And of course, people on the civil rights of things would argue the opposite, that of course it's not 50 years ago, but there are new problems and new issues and things need to have oversight. So, that's very much something that's going to be a key talking point as the question of who replaces Scalia goes forward, because that really is what's at stake for the right, right now. They've enjoyed a 5-4 kind of block to advance these things ever since the George W. Bush administration when O'Connor, who's considered more of a centrist, left. So this really throws their project into the gears.

BETWEEN THE LINES: Maybe you could explore one other comment, and that was a comment made by Justice Scalia in another case where he's talking about how blacks in this country would not benefit from placement in prestigious universities, but would be better placed in slower track institutions. Another example of what I think could only be classified as blatant racism.

ARI PAUL: Yeah, I mean, you know, when he died, there was sort of a feeling amongst a lot of people of "oh was he even that old?" "Was he ill?" I haven't seen the man's medical records, but it's quite possible that this was a man towards the end of his life where he sort of felt, "I can just about say anything I want at this point. Who's going to stop me?"

I mean, they enjoy a great degree of freedom to say exactly what's on their mind. But as you say, it does sort of really show the dark heart of that part of the conservative movement. That this was their hero. This was their activist judge who was willing to say something the average person interprets as blatantly racist.