Thursday, February 07, 2008
Why the Supreme Court Matters – Not Just for the Right, but for Democracy
As we head down the backstretch of our primary campaigns the issue of the Supreme Court is becoming, at least for Republicans, a bigger and bigger issue. With at least 2 and maybe more justice set to retire or pass away in the next 4 years, you will appoint them matters a lot.
The traditional narrative is that Democrats will nominate activist judges while Republicans constitutional traditionalists. This has not always worked out this way (Kennedy put Byron Wizzer White on the bench, Bush the Elder, Justice Souter), but the general narrative works.
But after forty plus years of judicial “politics” I would hope both sides are ready to step back from the brink. And yes, here I am doing an Obama by suggesting stepping back from the brink is to move towards the constitionalist position. But here is my rationale.
