Sunday, July 1, 2007

Disorder in the Court: A Scalia-nation

“This court has shown the same respect for precedent that a wrecking ball shows for a plate-glass window.”
Ralph G. Neas, president of People for the American Way

Sad, but very true.

As the Supreme Court goes, so goes the nation.

The lasting legacy of this incompetent president and the stolen election of 2000 is a Supreme Court that has turned back the clock on integration in public schools, Affirmative Action, investor lawsuits, freedom of speech, and a woman’s right to reproductive freedom. The one area, surprisingly, where they supported a progressive agenda was in environmental.

The Supreme Court, by the numbers:

There have been fewer decisions this term [68] than in any other term since 1953.
With the decisions these folks are making, I guess that is the good news.

A solid third of the decisions were by a 5-4 margin.
A majority of those decisions were made along ideological lines. This means that the conservatives [Scalia et al] are in solid control, and the more progressive thinking justices are marginalized.

And now Justice Kennedy is the swing vote, where Justice O’Connor used to be.
Jury is still out on this, however it does not bode well. Kennedy was in the voting majority in EVERY 5-4 decision thus far.

More than who controls Congress, more than who is the president, the Supreme Court decides the path the nation takes.

The march to a more conservative nation has taken its first giant step backward.

The antidote: A progressive Democratic president, and a bold, progressive Congress

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