It’s been a stunning month in politics and for our future

The month now ending may be remembered as one of the most consequential of the year — or of many years.

The most obvious events are the results of primary elections that return the inevitability of Hillary Clinton’s ascent regardless of two-thirds of voters finding her dishonest and untrustworthy.

On the Republican side, if history is a guide, Donald Trump’s victories in the very different states of New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada portend his nomination.

The loss of Justice Antonin Scalia could mark the turning point when the fundamental principles and values of the founding of the most successful nation in human history face serious peril.

An appeal brought to the Supreme Court by 29 states offers a compelling example of this reality.

Justice Scalia’s last deciding vote was cast in that case, which will now hang in the balance as to its final outcome.

It is unlikely that very many people paid much attention to it because the suit involves global warming — an issue that continues to rank very low among voters when asked to identify the nation’s most pressing priorities.

Here’s why the court’s 5-4 decision has such importance beyond the issues inside the case itself.

Going all the way back to the first two years of President Obama’s first term, we find the Democratic Party in total control of the government.

In addition to occupying the White House, they held majorities in both houses of Congress.

There was really little reason for Republican lawmakers to even show up, since their preference for any legislation had no chance of making any difference.

With absolute power in hand, the Democrats put forth a sweeping and comprehensive bill that would bestow upon the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Energy and other regulatory agencies the clout to carry out Obama’s agenda of reining in forces of climate change.

He had declared the work necessary to “save the planet.”

After growing to a mind-boggling 1,427 pages of new laws that would affect the lives of every American, it finally garnered a bare majority in the House of Representatives and went on to the Senate.

Facing economic wreckage in states with Democratic senators, the bill was dead on arrival.

That meant the mission to authorize specific legislation to deal with global warming was affirmatively and intentionally rejected by the president’s own party.

So Obama ordered the EPA to find authority via questionable interpretations of existing laws to carry out his plans to impede energy production.

Over the ensuing years, the EPA has dutifully fashioned the most extensive regulatory work products in its history.

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court halted the most damaging of the rules.

It would have resulted in massive job losses, economic ruin to the entire coal industry and higher utility bills for all of us.

The worst part of the regulatory schemes was that even the EPA has said the rules would not reduce global levels of heat-trapping carbon dioxide, nor would temperatures decline.

Without Scalia’s deciding vote, the rules that the Democrats had affirmatively declined to authorize would not have been stopped.

Regardless of the controversy over the subject of climate change, the fundamental function of the federal system and its balance of powers among the three equal but separate branches of government were and remain at stake.

This whole multiyear episode of the use of unconstitutional executive powers, finally a bit reined in this month, greatly emphasizes the importance of the current challenge facing voters across the country in choosing the next president.

It is not about saving the earth. It is far more about saving our country.

This story was originally published February 26, 2016 at 6:06 PM with the headline "It’s been a stunning month in politics and for our future."