Several Supreme Court (SC) justices will likely retire or pass away in the next eight years and replacements will be appointed by a President Obama or McCain.
The composition of the SC will bear directly on the legally protected liberty (and the related capacity to pursue happiness) of our fellow citizens.
Do you like the choice to decide whether to have a baby? Like feeling secure and safe in your home and person away from the prying eyes of police? Like the fact that if you are arrested you get to contest in a court the rationale behind your arrest? Like sharing consensual intimacy with whom you choose. Of course you do. Guarantees exist to protect your liberty. You are a person with rights.
One fact of American society is that a mass movement for authoritarianism flourishes, dedicated or indifferent to the diminishment of rights and liberties.
Knowing which justices hold a high regard for the liberty interest of Americans, and knowing which type of justices in this regard a President Obama (high on liberty) and a President McCain (hostile to liberty) will appoint, some facts are listed below to take into account when you consider contributing your time and money to Obama in these last days of the campaign.
The direction for decades of an entire branch of our government rests upon the choice of Obama or McCain.
On the chart below is assigned a broad high liberty value or low liberty value onto each of the current nine SC members based upon cases in which the liberty interests of citizens is at issue.
This is a liberty index not completely developed though I will construct one in the coming months, but the cases used are instructive and really not under serious dispute. [Note: An example of the imprecision in using this liberty index as a predictive measure can be seen in Texas v. Johnson (1989) decided five-to-four, a case in which Justice Scalia sided with the majority taking a strong free speech position, and Justice Stevens sided with the statist minority and filed a ridiculous dissenting opinion.]
U.S. Supreme Court Justices' Age and Liberty Value
Three Facts
- The two oldest members of the SC see a high liberty interest vested in Americans.
- The three youngest members of the SC see a low liberty interest vested in Americans. These three youngest members are highly ideological and partisan and can be described as radical.
- Six of the nine justices are past retirement age for most Americans.
- SC Justices listed by age, includes birth date, with liberty value -
John Paul Stevens: 88-years-old (BD April 20, 1920): High liberty
Ruth Ginsburg: 75-years-old (BD March 15, 1933): High liberty
Anthony Kennedy: 72-years-old (BD July 23, 1936): Middling liberty
Antonin Scalia: 72-years-old (BD March 11, 1936): Low liberty
Stephen Breyer: 70-years-old (BD Aug 15, 1938): High liberty
David Souter: 69-years-old (BD Sept 17, 1939): High liberty
Clarence Thomas: 60-years-old (BD June 23, 1948): Low liberty
Samuel Alito: 58-years-old (BD April 1, 1950): Low liberty
John Roberts: 53-years-old (BD Jan 27, 1955): Low liberty
- via mal contends
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