Why the Supreme Court Needs Balance
The Supreme Court is dangerously out of balance.
I am old enough to remember when the nomination of Robert Bork was rejected because he was so much a creature of the Radical Right. Yet, the Bush presidencies have left us with four justices who are equally far to the right and totally out of step with mainstream American thought: Thomas, Scalia, Roberts, and Alito. They are pushing a dangerous agenda in favor of corporate steamrollering, against legitimate government controls on issues like the environment, and appallingly backward on minority rights. The so-called centrists on the court are what we used to think of as solidly conservative.
The shifts from the likes of the moderate conservative O’Connor and the steadfast progressive Thurgood Marshall to Chief Justice Roberts and Clarence Thomas and their allies have been a radical veering off course. It’s time to get back on course and have a Court that stands for the fundamental values on which this great country was founded.
These four dangerous radicals must be held in check by a progressive caucus that goes beyond Ginsburg and Sotomayor and can build coalitions with Breyer and Kennedy. Sonya Sotomayor has shown signs of being an outstanding Justice, and I’d like to see Obama appoint someone else with similar values and similar judicial excellence.
