An acquaintance on the Republican right once told me, “I don’t care so much which party has the White House and Congress, as long as we have the Supreme Court.”

I see his reasoning. Though the president and Senate are now Democratic, most major gains have been made by Republicans thanks to a 6-3 conservative majority on the high court.

Justices overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade decision giving abortion rights to women, ruled Jan. 6 rioters couldn’t be charged with obstruction, protected bump stocks that increase rifles’ mass- killing power, upheld racial gerrymandering and gutted long-standing federal regulatory powers to combat pollution, climate change and health care fraud.

As a cherry on top, the court cleared a slew of legal threats to Donald Trump’s campaign to return to the White House, declaring that a president enjoys legal immunity for virtually everything he does.

The court’s conservative tilt was enabled by demographic advantages that give red states disproportionate weight in the Electoral College and U.S. Senate. In nearly all 6-3 cases, the court’s rulings were contrary to public opinion reported by polls.

Critics accuse Republicans of seeking to establish permanent minority rule as our population becomes more diverse. A politicized Supreme Court can block the other party’s policies when it’s in power and green-light whatever its own presidents want to do. Majority will no longer matter.

While this debate is primarily national, an assault on majority will is also occurring in Hawaii, led by the Democratic Legislature.

The Legislature has accrued enormous power unto itself; little happens in Hawaii without going through the Legislature, and little goes through the Legislature without legislators getting paid.

It’s mostly via lavish campaign donations and other forms of legalized bribery from special interests that prop up incumbent lawmakers willing to put private desires over the public’s.

Reforms such as term limits, voter initiative and publicly financed elections to curb the power of entrenched lawmakers are unachievable because only the Legislature can enact these changes, and legislators zealously guard their self-interest.

There’s a microcosm of this conflict in House District 25, where attorney Kim Coco Iwamoto is challenging Speaker Scott Saiki in the Democratic primary for the third time after twice coming within 170 votes of an upset.

Iwamoto is an articulate advocate for changes in undemocratic House rules that overly empower committee chairs, as well as voter initiative, term limits and public election financing — none of which have advanced under Saiki’s leadership.

He knows doing the political will of his members puts him on the wrong side of the public will on those issues, and avoids joint forums with his opponent.

Saiki directs special enmity at public initiative, which would allow voters to directly enact needed reforms legislators reject, saying it would allow the majority to oppress minority rights.

Interestingly, in the instance that was most seriously alleged to have occurred — a 1998 constitutional amendment allowing the Legislature to ban gay marriage — the measure was put on the ballot by the Legislature, not voter initiative.

Eleven years after Hawaii legalized same-sex marriage, legislators finally put a measure on this year’s general election ballot to rescind their 1998 amendment.

Reach David Shapiro at volcanicash@gmail.com.