Update: See today's 5-4 decision (Ashcroft and Mueller v. Iqbal, 07-1015) for yet another example of the utter disdain the GOP-Roberts wing has for liberty. See SC Turns Back Ex-Detainee’s Suit Over Prison Abuses (NYT).
As speculation continues on Obama's Supreme Court nominee, a must read by Jeffrey Toobin in The New Yorker on Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr.
In September 2005 Roberts was confirmed 78-22, and the liberty-loving crowd (mainstream journalists call us the "left") figured that we were not going to be hurt as Roberts' predecessor was William Rehnquist. Can't really get worse than Rehnquist.
Not so sure now.
Showing posts with label rightwing legal thought. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rightwing legal thought. Show all posts
Oct 26, 2008
New Pres Will Move Supreme Court Sharply
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
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
Jun 30, 2008
Supreme Court Piece Gets Revealing Angry Response
The following text (in two e-mails) below was received from timkisting@aol.com, commenting on a brief analysis (SC Decision Striking Down Gun Control Is Fine with This Progressive) on the Supreme Court decision, District of Columbia v. Heller (07-290), that was picked up in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel on Sunday.
Well, let's hope this guy, timkisting@aol.com, doesn't own a gun.
The ad hominem attempt (below among many) to insult by raising the possibility of my being a "fag" merits a reply: Being gay is okay. As is working for the people residing in "Milwaukee's ghetto population".
Thanks for reading, timkisting@aol.com.
But perhaps, you ought to consider a change of vocation, like training pit bulls or reviving the KKK as a bulwark against "Milwaukee's ghetto population" and its "fag" sympathizers. I bet that would pay well.
Your (sic) an idiot, you rip the US Supreme Court because it has a conservative bent. You liberal cut and run coward cockroaches are the ones that are the most partisan, corrupt losers of our day. You whine when conservatives expect YOU to work rather to live off government handouts living out of mommy and daddy's basement. President Bushes (sic) greatest legacy, will be Roberts and Alito, which will alter correctly and fix the liberal blunders of past courts. Now if we can only get rid of Stevens and Ginsburg. McCain will do that in the next 4 years. Before you cry out in rage, saying Barrack Hussein Nobama will win! LMAO 20-30% of democrats like my mother and father WILL NOT vote for Hussein and WILL vote for McCain. Older Americans will vote for the war hero over the admitted crack smoking Muslim Manchurian candidate put up by the liberals. It will be 58-42% win for McCain, as Obama will not win 1 southern state and will lose Ohio and Pennsylvania badly. The liberals will cry out in disbelief, claiming fraud and other sore loser talking points. LMAO, and for you fat fuck liberal cockroach, BUSH and CHENEY will never be impeached much less removed as they have done nothing wrong. In fact moonbat liberal loser, lets take a vote now. In the senate you wouldn't get 15 votes to impeach and in the House you would not get even a 100 votes. Get ready for at least 8 more years of republicans in the White House, GUARANTEED!!!!!!! I will put up my salary which I am pretty sure is 5-6 times what yours is to make the bet?
PS (sic) Calling yourself "progressive" is a way to hide your self loathing, self realization that being a liberal is wrong and self hating. GET a JOB become Republican, start liking yourself again, or commit suicide, either way, your loss would be no big deal
Don't read your blog, did you cry like a whiny fag bitch, when Gableman kicked "Loophole" Louie Butlers (sic) ass in that last election? Giving Wisconsin a conservative edge, negating our dumgass (sic) loser Govenor (sic). By the way, outside the Peoples Republic of Madison, and Milwaukee's ghetto population, this state is predominately a conservative state.
Update: Come on liberal cockroach, respond to anything that I said, but like a typical liberal cockroach, when confronted directly with their lies and slander, they scurry back under the rock from which they came. Devoid of ANY original thought, unless given to them from moveon.org.
Well, let's hope this guy, timkisting@aol.com, doesn't own a gun.
The ad hominem attempt (below among many) to insult by raising the possibility of my being a "fag" merits a reply: Being gay is okay. As is working for the people residing in "Milwaukee's ghetto population".
Thanks for reading, timkisting@aol.com.
But perhaps, you ought to consider a change of vocation, like training pit bulls or reviving the KKK as a bulwark against "Milwaukee's ghetto population" and its "fag" sympathizers. I bet that would pay well.
Your (sic) an idiot, you rip the US Supreme Court because it has a conservative bent. You liberal cut and run coward cockroaches are the ones that are the most partisan, corrupt losers of our day. You whine when conservatives expect YOU to work rather to live off government handouts living out of mommy and daddy's basement. President Bushes (sic) greatest legacy, will be Roberts and Alito, which will alter correctly and fix the liberal blunders of past courts. Now if we can only get rid of Stevens and Ginsburg. McCain will do that in the next 4 years. Before you cry out in rage, saying Barrack Hussein Nobama will win! LMAO 20-30% of democrats like my mother and father WILL NOT vote for Hussein and WILL vote for McCain. Older Americans will vote for the war hero over the admitted crack smoking Muslim Manchurian candidate put up by the liberals. It will be 58-42% win for McCain, as Obama will not win 1 southern state and will lose Ohio and Pennsylvania badly. The liberals will cry out in disbelief, claiming fraud and other sore loser talking points. LMAO, and for you fat fuck liberal cockroach, BUSH and CHENEY will never be impeached much less removed as they have done nothing wrong. In fact moonbat liberal loser, lets take a vote now. In the senate you wouldn't get 15 votes to impeach and in the House you would not get even a 100 votes. Get ready for at least 8 more years of republicans in the White House, GUARANTEED!!!!!!! I will put up my salary which I am pretty sure is 5-6 times what yours is to make the bet?
PS (sic) Calling yourself "progressive" is a way to hide your self loathing, self realization that being a liberal is wrong and self hating. GET a JOB become Republican, start liking yourself again, or commit suicide, either way, your loss would be no big deal
Don't read your blog, did you cry like a whiny fag bitch, when Gableman kicked "Loophole" Louie Butlers (sic) ass in that last election? Giving Wisconsin a conservative edge, negating our dumgass (sic) loser Govenor (sic). By the way, outside the Peoples Republic of Madison, and Milwaukee's ghetto population, this state is predominately a conservative state.
Update: Come on liberal cockroach, respond to anything that I said, but like a typical liberal cockroach, when confronted directly with their lies and slander, they scurry back under the rock from which they came. Devoid of ANY original thought, unless given to them from moveon.org.
Jan 24, 2008
McCain's Express Route to Defeat
John McCain's status as the newest GOP frontrunner has the Republican establishment desperate.
Some believe that McCain may be the GOP's best hope in the general election.
But McCain still carries the weight of hostility from crucial GOP constituencies sufficient to crush his general election campaign.
This reality is summed up in Ann Coulter's latest column.
'Straight Talk' Express Takes Scenic Route to Truth
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Some believe that McCain may be the GOP's best hope in the general election.
But McCain still carries the weight of hostility from crucial GOP constituencies sufficient to crush his general election campaign.
This reality is summed up in Ann Coulter's latest column.
'Straight Talk' Express Takes Scenic Route to Truth
John McCain is Bob Dole minus the charm, conservatism and youth. Like McCain, pollsters assured us that Dole was the most "electable" Republican. Unlike McCain, Dole didn't lie all the time while claiming to engage in Straight Talk.
Of course, I might lie constantly too, if I were seeking the Republican
presidential nomination after enthusiastically promoting amnesty for illegal aliens, Social Security credit for illegal aliens, criminal trials for terrorists, stem-cell research on human embryos, crackpot global warming legislation and free speech-crushing campaign-finance laws.
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Sep 13, 2007
Bush's Hijacking of Supreme Court
Via ThinkProgress, We know that Fifteen percent is the number of Americans who can name the Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, John Roberts, compared with 66 percent of Americans who can name “at least one of the judges on the Fox television show American Idol.”
That's the kind of thing that scares me. So, Bush can appoint a guy like John Roberts, call him a strict constructionist who upholds the Constitution, and most people will not have a clue as to the lie Bush is telling. [Not that Bush has a clue either; he just recites the lines.]
Roberts is a strict constructionist, alright: A judge who wishes to make abortion illegal, sees no great defined liberty rights in the Constitution, is a lousy scholar of Constitutional thought, and will overturn any judicial precedent if it fits with the right wing political network.
Hell, these strict constructionist guys like Roberts would even halt an election and appoint a man like George W. Bush to the presidency if they ever had the chance. I kid you not.
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