Chief Justice Rehnquist
Supreme Court Chief Justice Rehnquist has cancer.
Again, all the Supreme Court Justices are old (other than Thomas, all over 65) - Rehnquist is 80 himself - and there may be many changes (Stevens, Rehnquist, O'Connor, and Ginsburg are my guesses).
I can't imagine another 4 Scalia/Thomas judges! People say that the talk of controlling the Supreme Court isn't a real concern. This just highlights why it is. Right now, it's a loose 5-4 conservative majority. If Ginsburg and Stevens retire, then it's a strong 7-2 stronghold - with 4 of those manical in their out of date views, wanting to live like it's the 1700s, able to reach back through time to know what the framers though when they wrote the Constitution, and not allowing society to change in any way. Great...
Just another reason why Bush must be defeated.
Again, all the Supreme Court Justices are old (other than Thomas, all over 65) - Rehnquist is 80 himself - and there may be many changes (Stevens, Rehnquist, O'Connor, and Ginsburg are my guesses).
I can't imagine another 4 Scalia/Thomas judges! People say that the talk of controlling the Supreme Court isn't a real concern. This just highlights why it is. Right now, it's a loose 5-4 conservative majority. If Ginsburg and Stevens retire, then it's a strong 7-2 stronghold - with 4 of those manical in their out of date views, wanting to live like it's the 1700s, able to reach back through time to know what the framers though when they wrote the Constitution, and not allowing society to change in any way. Great...
Just another reason why Bush must be defeated.
posted by -Me @ 10/25/2004 11:48:00 AM
3 Comments:
At 12:25 PM,
Anonymous said…
Too scary. The effects of another 4 years of Bush will be long and far-reaching. I really, really, hope not.
Michelle http://nervous.typepad.com
At 3:43 PM,
Matthew said…
This is (just one of) the things about a Bush re-election which really, really scares me.
Y'know, a small part of me almost wants Bush to win, just so I can tell everyone down the road, "I told you so."
But it's only a small part and, thankfully, the more sensible portion wins out.
Can we please, please, please have a Kerry/Edwards win next week?
At 5:29 PM,
Dennis! said…
While I agree that the Supreme Court is a big concern to keep in mind next week, it's also important to note that the lower judiciary -- which often escapes notice in the public discourse -- is also extremely important and has already been under attack by this administration for four years now.
The lower judiciary -- thirteen circuit courts of appeal and a large handful of federal district courts -- hear cases all the time, making law as they go along. The Supreme Court only hears a tiny percentage of the thousands upon thousands of cases that seek its review every year. Let's face it, the real power of the judiciary lies not as much in the Supreme Court as it does in the lower courts which continue to churn out law that the Supreme Court can't or won't review.
Mr. Bush has systematically named only the most rabid ideologues to the federal bench, using recess appointments twice when democrats in the Senate refused to confirm his nominees. Mr. Bush has refused to meet with a bipartisan committee to come up with an acceptable list of judges who might be acceptable to both parties, instead opting for political showdowns on the Senate floor.
It's not just the 5-4 Supreme Court balance we have to worry about. It's the nationwide distribution of federal judges too.
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