Our Institutions Will Not Save Us From Republican Authoritarianism

It’s not just the courts and the legislatures that are being
corrupted as institutions: Virtually anywhere appointees are put in place by
Republicans, there’s potential for institutional capture and replacing sound
policy with extreme ideology. Perhaps there’s no better example of this than
the Florida Medical Board, which Governor Ron DeSantis has loaded with religious zealots and anti-vaxxers (to be fair, there’s a lot of
overlap there). As a result, the board
is about to produce a “standard of care” for all trans people of any age that
prevents any affirming care based on deeply disingenuous and flawed
interpretation of
the literature. Similarly, the board is recommending against 18 to 39-year-old
men getting the Covid booster based on an anonymous, small-sample, non–peer reviewed paper. It
seems only a matter of time before corrupted state medical boards also ban the
use of hormonal birth control and IUDs, using the same tactics, under the threat
of revoking medical licenses.

Ultimately, the corruption and capture of our institutions by
people who are acting out of partisanship and ideology will be the end not
only of our democracy but of competent nonpartisan governance. Next term, the
Supreme Court will hear the case of Moore v. Harper, under which it will decide if state
and federal courts have any jurisdiction over federal elections. At its heart,
it is a test of the “independent state legislature theory,” which argues that
state legislatures are the final arbiter on everything related to elections,
including declaring who the winner is. Should North Carolina succeed in its
arguments, it means that the gerrymandered legislatures of North Carolina,
Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania will always ensure their electoral college votes go
to the GOP.

Republican candidates for state offices responsible for
elections are also promising to overturn elections in favor of their party and
will likely be successful if the independent state legislature theory is upheld
at the Supreme Court. Arizona Republican secretary of state nominee Mark Finchem says he doesn’t believe Democrats
can win elections fairly, and he is promising to refuse to certify the 2024 election
if Biden wins. Similarly, Republican secretary of state nominee Jim Marchant in
Nevada is promising to make Donald Trump president again in 2024, regardless of
the official vote tally. Both Finchem and Marchant have a lead in the polls.