Just when everyone thought the conservative Chief Justice Renquist would submit his resignation, the moderate Sandra Day O'Connor stunned the legal world and has announced her resignation from the Supreme Court. This is the worst possible thing that could've happened. If Renquist had stepped down, nothing much would change if a conservative was put in his place -- he is a conservative. But O'Connor, well she's been the deciding vote on almost every major decision since she joined the bench. Known as a swing voter, O'Connor is one of the only justices free of a political taint. Check out her bio, here
And you know what that means -- the neo-cons pulling the strings of the presidency will try their best to fill O'Connor's spot with an extremist right wing judge. Not to mention the neo-con court packing that will be attempted if anyone else steps down from the bench. I don't know if the Dems have the cojones to stop a court packing push. They've already caved to avoid the possibility of the nuclear option, so goddess only knows what will happen when the nominees are made and confirmation hearings begin. For people who don't follow Supreme Court jurisprudence with the fervor that I do, let me just tell you -- if the neo-cons succeed, we are all fucked. F-U-C-K-E-D. Fucked. That's right. I said it. You will say goodbye to pretty much any right you have that stems from constitutional interpretation and not the Bible. Think I'm kidding? Wait and see. If the pansy Dems don't filibuster the hell out of any candidate that isn't at least close to moderate, we can all kiss our civil liberties goodbye.
Most of my friends were truly upset when Bush won the presidency, but let me tell you a little secret: having a neo-con Pres is nothing because when it comes to our civil liberties, no one has more power than the Supreme Court. The neo-con pres and the congress and whatever other politician can make whatever law they want, but if the high Court says its unconstitutional, well, then that's that. The bad law goes bye-bye. But if we end up with a neo-con court, there won't be anybody to stop the bad laws. And, even if the right loses legislative power and we get some good laws passed (check out Spain for an example of a good law), the neo-con Supreme Court can says its unconsitutional, so no good laws either (absent a constitutinal amendment, of course). And unlike the pres who can be voted out, or forced out after 2 terms, there is no getting rid of a Supreme Court Justice - they sit for life. Like I said. Fucked.
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