Editorial
Mutually assured court destruction
Ruth Bader Ginsburg will forever be
remembered as one of the true giants of the
Supreme Court — an unparalleled champion
of equal rights for every American.
Throughout her 27 years on the bench,
which ended with her untimely death on Sept.
18 at the age of 87, she demonstrated proud service
to the American people with her undying
campaign to fulfi ll “equal justice under law.”
Ginsburg always put fi rst the Constitution, our
democratic republican system of government,
and the unalienable rights of the individual.
The loss of this great American comes at the
worst possible time — the throes of the most
contentious presidential election we’ve ever had,
involving a president that never lets an opportunity
to seize further political power go to waste.
President Trump says he will move forward
with nominating a successor to Ginsburg’s
seat, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch Mc-
Connell — self-proclaimed member of the
Republican Party-turned-obedient-party-of-
Trump — says he’ll move it forward to a vote.
Never mind, of course, that McConnell
wouldn’t give Merrick Garland — President
Obama’s nomination to succeed the late
Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court —
the time of day months ahead of the 2016
presidential election.
Back then, McConnell said it was too
close to the election to move forward with
the Senate’s “advise and consent” responsibilities.
Now, less than 50 days out from the
2020 election, timing suddenly isn’t an issue.
McConnell’s hypocrisy and Trump’s
brazenness threaten to tear the country
apart even further. Democrats are already
talking about adding two or more seats to
the Supreme Court if Trump and McConnell
ram through a nominee — should Joe Biden
win the presidency in November.
Court-packing would be the last, best
instrument of neutralizing three partisan appointments
made by an impeached president
who lost the popular vote four years ago.
But it also opens a Pandora’s box to
further politicize the Supreme Court, allowing
parties to pack the court each time
they win to get rulings favorable to them.
The independence of the Judiciary, already
undermined for decades through partisan
appointments, would be forever dissolved.
Trump and McConnell have set the country
up for the mutually assured destruction of the
Supreme Court — the greatest arbiter of justice
in our country. Moving forward with fi lling
Ginsburg’s seat now will set this country
back decades. Trump and McConnell’s mutual
selfi shness threaten to bring the country to a
breaking point. They must pull back.
Op-ed
Mayor must address
racial disparities in
New York City
BY COREY JOHNSON AND GLORIA
MIDDLETON
New York City is both a city of extreme
wealth and extreme poverty.
And unfortunately, the extreme
poverty that we see in New York City
is overwhelmingly centered in communities
of color.
Of course, this is not news to anyone
paying attention, but COVID-19 has put
a new and tragic spin on this decades’
old problem.
Black and Latinx New Yorkers died of
COVID-19 at around twice the rate of their
white counterparts.
The de Blasio administration must begin
addressing the racial disparities in our city
that lead to such dramatically different outcomes
– and they should begin this work by
getting their own house in order.
In 2013, the Communications Workers
of America Local 1180, which represents
management in city agencies, sued the
Bloomberg Administration over racial and
gender pay discrimination alleging that the
city had been systematically underpaying
women and employees of color who held
the “Administrative Management” title.
The CWA pointed out that in 1978 –
when the title was overwhelmingly white
males – the job paid the equivalent of about
$92,000 a year.
But as the years went on – and it became
increasingly a title that women held – the
pay plummeted to around $53,000.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission (EEOC), the federal
agency that enforces the laws prohibiting
workplace discrimination, sided with the
CWA in 2015.
The EEOC also found that “structural
and historic” pay gaps between white male
workers compared to women and workers
of color were present in all city agencies.
Under Mayor de Blasio, the city fi nally
settled with CWA, providing recourse
to workers who had been underpaid for
decades.
But the settlement only covered one
union and one job title. That’s clearly not
enough when we know – per the EEOC –
that this is systemic.
Recognizing this, the Council passed Local
Law 18 of 2019, which requires the
city to analyze pay disparities among
PHOTO VIA GETTY IMAGES
the entire municipal workforce, then to
make those fi ndings public annually.
The law also requires the Administration
to hand over this data to the Council, so it
can conduct its own analysis.
This data is key to fi nding and eliminating
instances of pay disparity in the city
workforce. Given the Administration’s oftstated
goal of tackling inequities, gathering
this data and making it public should be
a priority.
COVID-19 has delayed the release of the
initial report, which was due at the end of
May.
While we understand that the pandemic
caused problems completing the
report, addressing systemic inequities is of
the utmost urgency.
We can no longer delay.
This problem has gone on for far too
long and an embarrassment to the de Blasio
administration, which prides itself on being
progressive.
The settlement and resulting legislation
from the Council was the beginning of the
fi ght to end these pay disparities in the
workforce.
The sooner the City Council gets this
data, the sooner we can lift the curtain on
these disparities that have so threatened
the upward mobility of our women and
workers of color and begin to meaningfully
address these inequalities.
They have waited a long time. Too
long. Let’s get moving.
Johnson is the speaker of the City
Council; Middleton is the president of the
Communications Workers of America Local
1180.
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