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PS. And a significant part of the problem is that the other branches of our government have become as corrupted by power as the courts, and the people by and large don't care. The trajectory won't change until enough people identify the problem as the government overall, rather than merely the partisans on the other side. Most Americans want government to be the solution, they just squabble over what needs solving.

A house divided against itself cannot stand, and the people are intractably divided. A government by its very nature seeks to exercise power and to extinguish freedom. When eternal vigilance falters, it is ever at the ready to enter the breach. That's just the way it is.

"An act of the Legislature (for I cannot call it a law) contrary to the great first principles of the social compact, cannot be considered a rightful exercise of legislative authority ... . A few instances will suffice to explain what I mean... . [A] law that takes property from A. and gives it to B: It is against all reason and justice, for a people to entrust a Legislature with such powers; and, therefore, it cannot be presumed that they have done it." Calder v. Bull, 3 Dall. 386, 388 (1798) (emphasis deleted).

O'Connor has found her conservative inner self, Kennedy has found his fascist inner self. Who'd a thunk it?

Congress can not allow this to go unchecked. It is the Dred Scott of property rights. Foregt the flag, amend the Constitution to protect private property!