tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post1204555560126637892..comments2024-03-29T10:54:33.737-05:00Comments on Althouse: "Three in 10 Call SCOTUS 'Too Conservative.'"Ann Althousehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01630636239933008807noreply@blogger.comBlogger20125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-66600921752631660852007-07-30T08:37:00.000-05:002007-07-30T08:37:00.000-05:00The Supreme Court has been, is, and will continue ...The Supreme Court has been, is, and will continue to be as much political as legal. The idea of impartial judges acting as philosopher kings is just plain silly. The system works just fine over the long run. The possible improvement I could see would be to impose some kind of age limitation on justices (but, I suppose, it could be argued that impeachment would be the constitutional alternative.)<BR/><BR/>Would someone tell me where the system is broken? Seriously. Even the confirmation process, while nasty and not particularly productive, serves its purpose, IMO.<BR/><BR/>Politics simply isnt bean bag, and has gotten more contententious, but it doesnt mean the system is broken.Roger J.https://www.blogger.com/profile/12639676792043324100noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-33079223131504975252007-07-29T18:29:00.000-05:002007-07-29T18:29:00.000-05:00These two will be there for 20+ years at least...t...<I>These two will be there for 20+ years at least...to keep pace the replacement liberals should be the same</I><BR/><BR/>Nah, we're going to filibuster any liberal noms under the age of 65.. <BR/><BR/>Good. Goose. Gander. ;)Fenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16734571593963330215noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-30343754045777231842007-07-29T14:28:00.000-05:002007-07-29T14:28:00.000-05:00Ann Althouse said... "But 2 conservatives replaced...Ann Althouse said... <BR/>"But 2 conservatives replaced 2 conservatives, so what is different?"<BR/><BR/>Thank you for clarifying but I disagree with this sentence...what is different is the age factor. These two will be there for 20+ years at least...to keep pace the replacement liberals should be the same.... and that I don't think is healthy for anyone, right or left...<BR/><BR/>There are good arguments for wisdom and experience and there are also good arguments against "forever" judges.hdhousehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14573004614816464571noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-84184223909477896962007-07-29T14:07:00.000-05:002007-07-29T14:07:00.000-05:00Ann said..."[N]ow there have been 2 appointments, ...Ann said...<BR/>"<I>[N]ow there have been 2 appointments, so maybe it will be perceived differently in '08. But 2 conservatives replaced 2 conservatives, so what is different?</I>"<BR/><BR/>As Kennedy goes, so the court goes, and in most of the big cases this term (not all - <I>Mass</I> is an unmitigated disaster, a gaping wound in standing doctrine), Kennedy sided with the liberals. But there are several issues on which Justice Kennedy swings left, and given the amount of space left on the docket next year, it's easy to imagine at least a quiet term, and maybe even one with several cases where Kennedy joins the liberals. For example: imagine the court takes an abortion case that falls clearly within <I>Casey</I>. Or suppose Congress shortly passes a statute nullifying the result in <I>Ledbetter</I> (<A HREF="http://stubbornfacts.us/politics/congress_springs_into_action" REL="nofollow">this one</A>, for example) and the court upholds a draconian award against an employer relying on that amendment (this is quite unlikely, concededly, just in terms of pure timerame).<BR/><BR/>Or for a much more plausible example: imagine if the court has a relatively quiet term, but on the last day of the term, Kennedy joins the four liberals in <I>Parker</I>, declaring that the Second Amendment doesn't encompass an indiidual right to keep and bear arms. If the last decision before election season is a massive victory for liberals, that hollows out the ability of liberals to campaign on the premise that this is a "conservative court."<BR/><BR/>Lastly, no one is buying the idea that <I>School Cases</I> are a conservative decision. The media's trying hard, but that case was so self-evidently correctly decided that while reasonable minds may disagree with it, I think the electorate as a whole understands the result was demanded by fealty to <I>Brown</I>.Simonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10065798213115341398noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-32918818976467539742007-07-29T13:39:00.000-05:002007-07-29T13:39:00.000-05:00hdhouse said..."Ann did you really say and mean th...hdhouse said..."Ann did you really say and mean that abortion is the issue Democrats use to fire up their voters?"<BR/><BR/>I hope it was implied that I meant it's the main issue they use to fire up voters about the Supreme Court. I was only talking about the Democrats, not the Republicans, who also use abortion (obviously). My point in this post is about whether it will be for Democrats to use the Supreme Court appointments issue to stir up votes, based on the results of this poll, which suggests Democrats have a new advantage.<BR/><BR/>None of that was intended to say anything about whether the Supreme Court is a good issue for Republicans. <BR/><BR/>Neither party's candidate used the Supreme Court issue in 2004. But now there have been 2 appointments, so maybe it will be perceived differently in '08. But 2 conservatives replaced 2 conservatives, so what is different? What's different is that the next few openings ALL look like liberals, and the familiar, balanced Court is at risk.Ann Althousehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01630636239933008807noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-10205787417128665572007-07-29T13:04:00.000-05:002007-07-29T13:04:00.000-05:00Part of me wants to say that AlphaLiberal hit it o...Part of me wants to say that AlphaLiberal hit it on the head - every respondent who doesn't know what ERISA is, for example, should be discounted. <B>But it just doesn't work like that</B>: people make political decisions on the basis of what they know, ill-informed or otherwise; they vote on the basis of those decisions, and elections have consequences. It's all well and good to say that the voters have incoherent and ill-informed positions, but that means that legal conservatives have to go out there and <I>explain</I> this stuff to ordinary voters. You have to develop an argument that explains why Cass Sunstein's book has it precisely backwards, why conservative courts <I>are</I> right for America, and that's a case that can easily be built, in normative terms, no less. It's vital to develop and put forward a counter-narrative about <I>Ledbetter</I> for example, that explains why that decision was correct, and to explain to normative value of <I>Hein</I>. It's important to understand why dismising for want of standing in <I>Hein</I>, for example, isn't "technical grounds" (at least in any pejorative sense).<BR/><BR/>I say incoherent, by the way, becaue (for example) polls continue to show that majorities oppose overruling <I>Roe v. Wade</I> yet approve of regulations that cannot be enacted <I>without</I> overruling <I>Roe</I>. The framing of the question is also important: if you ask if local education board ought to settle important questions of school assignment, I can imagine getting responses that seem to ratify Justice Breyer's view of the <I>School Cases</I>. If you ask them whether school districts ought to be able to assign children to schools on the basis of race, you'll get a quite opposite result.Simonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10065798213115341398noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-64575453591510183252007-07-29T12:12:00.000-05:002007-07-29T12:12:00.000-05:00PS. Less anyone think I'm knee jerk anti-abortion,...PS. Less anyone think I'm knee jerk anti-abortion, I actually believe abortion should be unrestricted for the first trimester and criminal thereafter.Joehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04450897654318345683noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-62098952375046410832007-07-29T12:00:00.000-05:002007-07-29T12:00:00.000-05:00As long as the court continues to go along with Mc...As long as the court continues to go along with McCain/Feingold, it's a bunch of clueless morons.<BR/><BR/>(And partial birth abortions are NEVER necessary. There is a theory that there may be a situation where one could be, no one has ever shown an actual case where this was true.)Joehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04450897654318345683noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-24933451280999921122007-07-29T11:58:00.000-05:002007-07-29T11:58:00.000-05:00Where did I say the Constitution is meaningless? ...Where did I say the Constitution is meaningless? But if you're right and most people don't even know the Court exists, that suggests it ought to err on the side of deference. Heck, even if most people do know it exists, the Court should still err on the side of deference, because, as you mention, we have two democratically-elected branches of government, plus all those elected officials at the state and local levels.Prosecutorial Indiscretionhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10435612653700066939noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-21788492976928310782007-07-29T11:41:00.000-05:002007-07-29T11:41:00.000-05:00So Prosecutorial Indescretion thinks the Constitut...So Prosecutorial Indescretion thinks the Constitution is meaningless.<BR/><BR/>Everything should just be up for majority vote by our democratically elected institutions.downtownladhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08663069432164302806noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-42962416837140911192007-07-29T11:24:00.000-05:002007-07-29T11:24:00.000-05:00HDHouse wrote: "Partial Birth Abortion is the orig...HDHouse wrote: "Partial Birth Abortion is the original straw dog in this area and it is sad as always that it is used as a thermometer for the supreme court or any court."<BR/><BR/>Agreed. I am anti-abortion in most cases and I support partial birth abortion because I know something about the need for the procedure and how the pregnancy puts the mother's life at risk for an unviable child.<BR/><BR/>There are real issues in the abortion debate (obviously,) but partial birth abortions are rare, tragic, and necessary.<BR/><BR/>TreyTMinkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07221261635305430323noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-6644958205550042232007-07-29T11:16:00.000-05:002007-07-29T11:16:00.000-05:00Ann did you really say and mean that abortion is t...Ann did you really say and mean that abortion is the issue Democrats use to fire up their voters? I thought the Republicans did that. Or maybe both do that.<BR/><BR/>Partial Birth Abortion is the original straw dog in this area and it is sad as always that it is used as a thermometer for the supreme court or any court.hdhousehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14573004614816464571noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-40291357096916729262007-07-29T10:40:00.000-05:002007-07-29T10:40:00.000-05:00Conservative is code for not supporting stuff that...<I>Conservative is code for not supporting stuff that won't win with the voters</I><BR/><BR/>Brilliant analysis, you should right a book or something.Invisible Manhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09997622762325284939noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-23543944799417520042007-07-29T10:38:00.000-05:002007-07-29T10:38:00.000-05:00DTL, if so many people don't even know we have a S...DTL, if so many people don't even know we have a Supreme Court, doesn't that undermine the Court's authority to impose its will on the democratically-accountable branches?Prosecutorial Indiscretionhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10435612653700066939noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-12726727971983412652007-07-29T10:34:00.001-05:002007-07-29T10:34:00.001-05:00But what's the highest that this number could actu...But what's the highest that this number could actually get?<BR/><BR/>I mean 50% of this country probably doesn't even realize we even have a Supreme Court.downtownladhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08663069432164302806noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-64757290267679979982007-07-29T10:34:00.000-05:002007-07-29T10:34:00.000-05:00I'm always impressed by surveys that the press bre...I'm always impressed by surveys that the press breathlessly announce which butress what they have been saying for months/years. <BR/><BR/>Self fulfilling prophecies and all that...Moosehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04681736884420050618noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-4815913677856497882007-07-29T10:29:00.000-05:002007-07-29T10:29:00.000-05:00More interesting is what percent have a clue what ...More interesting is what percent have a clue what the Supreme Court does.AlphaLiberalhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08711124490821422066noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-50699727472570708062007-07-29T10:11:00.000-05:002007-07-29T10:11:00.000-05:00the link seemed bad to methe link seemed bad to meThe Drill SGThttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16394309533144027391noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-26782207915681298222007-07-29T09:45:00.000-05:002007-07-29T09:45:00.000-05:00This is largely because Americans hold particularl...This is largely because Americans hold particularly unformed opinions about the Court and have little if any information on which to fall back when prompted by a pollster for an opinion. In such a circumstance a person with no opinion will generally accede to the institution by saying it's fine. Such is the nature of public opinion.Vincenthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01586389553197192650noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6329595.post-55379356128929251772007-07-29T09:20:00.000-05:002007-07-29T09:20:00.000-05:00Conservative is code for not supporting stuff that...Conservative is code for not supporting stuff that won't win with the voters, which refers back to inability to pass legislation for the stuff. The crisis would be taking stuff away that's there.<BR/><BR/>Balance means leaving stuff there that's there but not putting in more.<BR/><BR/>Liberal means enacting new losing lefty ideas.<BR/><BR/>The words shift when you refer to the Supreme Court, to avoid a latent contradiction.rhhardinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06901742898653890646noreply@blogger.com