Opinion | How Democrats Lost Their Majorities

After the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez echoed a common sentiment on the left by calling the decision “illegitimate” and accusing the justices of “cementing minority rule.” The claim is that the court doesn’t reflect the will of the people because some justices were appointed by presidents who “lost the popular vote” and Senate majorities whose states collectively account for a minority of the U.S. population.

This argument arises from a broader intellectual current questioning the legitimacy of Republican electoral power, which originated in academia and seeped into politics by way of left-of-center commentary. But it’s important to understand how conservatives won this victory at the court. Republicans have been winning more majorities, or at least pluralities, than Democrats for more than a quarter-century.