What Lanka Can Learn From Senate Grilling Of New Nominee To US Supreme Court

Despite the controversy over United States President Donald Trump’s decision to fill a Supreme Court vacancy ahead of next month’s election and the Republican-dominated Senate’s decision to go ahead with the confirmation hearing in a bid to put politics before fair play, the democratically fortified exercise of appointing a judge to the nation’s highest court is indeed best practice other nations should follow.

- Ameen Izzadeen

At a time when fears are being expressed in Sri Lanka over the Government’s drift towards dictatorship and when citizens and civil society are embroiled in debates and disputes over the proposed 20th Amendment and a new constitution, we can learn a lesson or two in this week’s Senate hearing to confirm President Trump’s nominee, Amy Coney Barrett, to fill the vacancy in the Supreme Court.

Although we take pride in our status as Asia’s oldest democracy, we are certainly not the best. If we look beyond the quantitative claims and look for qualitative achievements of our near 90-year democratic journey since we first exercised the universal adult franchise in 1931, our nudity will be evident to us. As far as our democracy’s health is concerned, the shame of missed opportunities and wasted years should prick the conscience of the nation.

The problem is not entirely with politicians or the quality of our elected representatives. Equally to be blamed are the people’s insufficient level of democracy literacy and their lackadaisical attitude to defend democracy in a democratic way.