Beyond removing justices, the left has made it clear that if it has lost its iron-fisted control of the judiciary, then the judiciary’s role in governing the country is henceforth illegitimate.

Good. I agree. The judiciary’s role in governing our lives is illegitimate, and has been for a very long time.

A country that considers itself a “democracy” (or a “representative republic,” or whatever term indicates that the people elect their government) cannot have an unelected, unaccountable, and unreplaceable judiciary that has arrogated unto itself the power to govern, irrespective of laws and lawmakers.

Don’t misunderstand, wherever the right has gained control of the courts, we should use the courts to advance our agenda, just like the left did. There is nothing principled about judicial restraint if only one side employs it. But any control we currently have over a subset of the nation’s courts is itself fleeting, since the left conquers all unelected institutions.

[It’s a good point. It’s also worth noting, though, that the motive for the Left’s holy war on conservative SCOTUS justices is in large part because they voted to *pull the judiciary out of that role.* After all, Dobbs didn’t actually outlaw abortion, but rightly noted that the issue belongs to the elected institutions. They’re not agitating to destroy the judiciary’s role in imposing laws; they’re agitating to regain control of SCOTUS and get back to the star-chamber method of imposing progressive policies. Ace is rightly concerned that we may be missing that larger issue. — Ed]