A POLITICIZED SUPREME COURT THAT KOWTOWS TO THE SOCIALIST REGIME? SHOCKING. Venezuela Supreme Court Stacks Cards In Maduro’s Favor.

By stymying the ability of the opposition to make use of its electoral majority to initiate overdue reforms that would undermine the country’s failed socialist policies, the Supreme Court has been a reliable ally in Maduro’s attempts to save Chavismo—the Supreme Court has undermined the power of the opposition-controlled National Assembly several times before. All this has taken place against the backdrop of a massive economic meltdown. Power outages, food shortages, and the arrests of “food hoarders” had triggered sizable countrywide protests.

The opposition, which has spent the year preparing for a recall referendum on Maduro, appeared buoyed. But one should never underestimate what a determined authoritarian government, with its paws on the various levers of power, can achieve.

Next steps are uncertain. Strains had already begun to appear in the opposition, between those who favor more direct street action and those who wanted to continue to press Maduro through the political process. Maduro and his people will almost certainly do everything they can to deepen those fissures.

It’s a mistake to pretend that you have a civil society when you don’t any more. That’s when it’s time to be most uncivil. Ceausescu wasn’t removed by judicially-approved referendum. Maduro won’t be either. Sic semper tyrannis. But it was a major error by the Bush Administration not to ensure that the anti-Chavez coup succeeded.