I see...the current Congress utterly refusing to pass any fix...
Every state of the Union (err, Confederacy too) run by Republican state governments massively disenfranchises minority voters in 2014 and beyond...
Republicans sweep the elections as a result...
Democrats sue, but when the case reaches the Roberts Court, the conservative 5 burst out laughing. Antonin Scalia literally jumps up on the table and proceeds to wipe his ass with the brief...
Eventually, some day, some semblance of a VRA fix is passed...
And then the Roberts Court strikes it down too. The official legal reasoning cited is "LOL@stoopid libruls."
Legislatures throughout America are so GOP-gerrymandered and minority voters so completely fucked at the ballot box that passing a Constitutional Amendment to do anything other than ban abortion, give guns more rights than human beings, or require teaching the Bible in science class has no chance of passing...
But against all odds, we do pass a Constitutional Amendment. There is great celebration throughout the land, and chuckles on the Supreme Court...
Somehow, somewhen, a Congress manages to act on this Amendment and pass a new VRA solidly rooted in the new authority...
And then SCOTUS 5-4 strikes down the new VRA. Official reasoning: "Because. Shut up. But we'll consider it if X changes are made."
After much delay and partisan gridlock, eventually X changes are made to VRA 2 to bring it into line with the Supreme Court's ruling...
And then they strike it down again. Official reasoning: "Eh. We changed our mind. Actually it needs Y changes."
More years pass while Y changes languish, but it finally passes...
And SCOTUS strikes this one down too. Official reasoning: "All laws must be written on vellum in purple ink and in Gothic script or they are invalid. So sayeth Lord Roberts. Oh, and it also needs changes Z1, Z2, Z3, Zx, etc.. Have fun getting that done, dumbasses."
Finally, decades after the first ruling gutting VRA, during which all sorts of horrors and disasters have unfolded due to unmitigated Republican control of government on all levels, people decide to really get serious and pass another Amendment. This one says "We REALLY, truly, seriously MEAN IT this time: People have the right to vote and Congress can pass laws to enforce it. The Court may NOT ignore this Amendment. We are speaking to YOU, John Roberts et al. DO NOT strike down laws passed under this authority. You are explicitly denied the power to do so under the law."
Congress, secure that this time VRA will be strongly legally founded, passes what they assume will be the final version...
And then SCOTUS strikes it down. Official reasoning, mailed in from John Roberts' mansion in the Caymans: "This law is hereby struck down forthwith yada yada yada, because I said so, thus-and-such, ipso facto, blah blah blah."
And there was much sorrow throughout the land, because what choice do people have but to obey the Supreme Court? What choice? It's totally unfathomable what could be done in such a situation as this but obey.
Could they...reject the ruling as a sick and authority-less joke? Preposterous! What would we do without the comforting embrace of absolute obeisance to the arbitrary will of five unelected people? That would be like...democracy or something (ptooey!)
Could they...(gasp)...impeach the fuckers?
Or maybe not. Maybe if people treated the law as the law, and not its human interpreters - if we insisted upon a nation of laws rather than of men, and asserted our prerogatives to interpret our end of the social contract through which all authorities are granted, then maybe something could finally be done. In fact, maybe we could start doing it now instead of waiting for 2040 or whatever, when the bedraggled slaves of the Republikkk of Kochistan barely have the caloric intake to read what was once the Constitution let alone the education to translate all thems funny-like scribbles into words what means stuff.
Maybe it begins by here and now acknowledging that the Constitution is ultimately ours to interpret, because it is a social contract and not tablets sent down from heaven to be interpreted by a divine priesthood. Maybe we start demanding today that the courts respect the laws they interpret and acknowledge that they are subject to the Constitution rather than its masters. Maybe we put a down payment today on answering the next Bush v. Gore, or the next Citizens United, or the next VRA outrage with a unified and effective response.
But hey, doing stuff ain't no fun! Let's just play out the grim, monotonous, prewritten future above and name all the laws we intend to pass "Future SCOTUS Strike-down #12877651..." Let's rename elections the "Republican inauguration pregame show." That's preferable to (gasp) trying to impeach a handful of judges. Oh, the horror! I would much rather have decades of future history that make the Bush regime look like The Federation than do that. Apologies to Meatloaf, but I would do anything for democracy...I would do anything for democracy...but I won't do that. It's....it's....it's INCONCEIVABLE.
/Bullshit. Yeah, these people need to be impeached. You know it, I know it. It's common sense. Let's get started.
5:16 AM PT: I'll be out until the afternoon or thereabouts, so be aware that responses to comments will be delayed.