Supreme Revenge – Battle for the Supreme Court

The Frontline documentary “Supreme Revenge: Battle for the Court” explores the decades-long judicial war and the recent rush to fill the Supreme Court vacancy left by the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

The documentary examines the Republican Party’s successful efforts led by Mitch McConnell to establish a conservative majority on the Supreme Court for years to come, and how the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg just before the 2020 election created an opportunity for the Republicans to achieve their goal.

Democrats saw the death of Ginsburg as a nightmare, hoping she would be able to hold on for a new president, but her death set off a political battle to replace her on the Court.

The documentary explains how Mitch McConnell’s life’s work had been to transform the Supreme Court, with his determination to do so going back to the Reagan White House.

He was able to succeed in establishing a conservative core for the next couple of decades by ensuring a conservative majority on the Supreme Court through bruising confirmation battles.

His success can be attributed to his tactical genius, as he worked to cement a conservative majority on the Court, which he believed was everything.

When Justice Ginsburg died, Republicans seized the opportunity to fill her seat with a conservative justice, Amy Coney Barrett, a 48-year-old conservative appeals court judge.

Mitch McConnell convinced the president to nominate Barrett, his way of securing control of the Supreme Court for years to come.

McConnell had two things to tell the president on Air Force One that night; first, he was going to put out a statement that said they were going to fill the vacancy, and second, he advised the president to nominate Amy Coney Barrett.

McConnell believed that to be able to say they would have a conservative Court for another generation was important.

The documentary also explores the infamous nomination of Judge Robert Bork by Ronald Reagan, which started the decades-long judicial wars. When Senator Edward Kennedy learned that Bork was to be nominated, he reportedly said they would have to destroy him.

The attackers on Bork were Biden, Heflin, Metzenbaum, Leahy, and Kennedy. They chose particular places where cameras could go that would be the least flattering for Bork.

In summary, the documentary examines the Supreme Court takeover that has been 30 years in the making and how Mitch McConnell succeeded in establishing a conservative majority on the Supreme Court for years to come.

The death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg was an opportunity for the Republicans to fill her seat with a conservative justice and cement control of the Court.

The documentary also looks back at the infamous nomination of Judge Robert Bork by Ronald Reagan, which started the decades-long judicial wars.