Posted on 05/24/2012 2:38:05 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
A little more than a year ago, Harvard Law School Prof. Randall Kennedy sounded the alarm.
“Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer should soon retire,” Kennedy wrote in the pages of The New Republic. “That would be the responsible thing for them to do.”
If they didn’t, Kennedy warned, and “if Obama loses, they will have contributed to a disaster.”
As the presidential race heats up, and the Supreme Court justices settle into their chambers to write their last and most consequential rulings of the 2011-12 term—from health care to immigration—Kennedy’s question once again seems relevant, even revelatory: most court watchers agree it’s now too late for Ginsburg—or Breyer, or any other justice—to give President Obama a third nomination to the high court before the election.
Kennedy’s hypothetical has taken on renewed significance, however, since Mitt Romney is currently polling close to or above President Obama in several key battleground states. If he were to unseat Obama this fall, and Ginsburg—a two-time cancer survivor who turns 80 next March—doesn’t feel she can continue through Romney’s first (or possibly second) term, should liberals fault her for potentially tilting the balance of the court for decades to come? (Breyer, 72, has had no reported major health scares, although he does seem to be a burglar magnet.)
This is the “disaster” Kennedy foresaw: a multigeneration conservative majority on the Supreme Court. Since the 1990s, the court has been in ideological equipoise: a conservative bloc and a liberal bloc, each regularly finding itself in the position of needing to win the vote of Justice Anthony Kennedy (or, until her retirement in 2006, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor).
Of course, the justices themselves resist characterizing their votes as “liberal” or “conservative,” instead arguing that they are guided by the Constitution and other supposedly “neutral” principles. But that pretense took a hit in 2000 by the vote in Bush v. Gore, the core of which was decided 5-4, with the conservative justices (including Kennedy) voting in favor of Bush’s argument and the liberal justices voting in favor of Gore’s.
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IF YOU DON’T LIKE MITT FOR PRESIDENT, HERE’S SOMETHING TO CONSIDER...
Columnist Andrew McCarthy gives us what probably is the most important question regarding the upcoming presidential election….
“…..if Mitt is the nominee, I will support his candidacy because I dread the alternative. For my friends who have hesitation on that score, I’d just ask you to keep four things in mind:
1.. Justice Scalia just turned 78
2.. Justice Kennedy will turn 78 later this year
3.. Justice Breyer will be 76 in August
4.. Justice Ginsburg turned 81 about a week ago.
We wish them all well, of course, but the brute fact is that whoever we elect as president in November is almost certainly going to choose at least one and maybe more new members of the Supreme Court — in addition to hundreds of other life-tenured federal judges, all of whom will be making momentous decisions about our lives for decades to come.
If you don’t think it matters whether the guy making those calls is Mitt Romney or Barack Obama, I think you’re smokin’ something funky….”
So for anybody who is thinking of not voting because your favorite didn’t get nominated, or writing in a candidate who can’t win... Imagine this: SUPREME COURT JUSTICE ERIC HOLDER.
And if she fails to announce her retirement during 0bummer’s current (and final) term, soon enough to leave time to be confirmed by the Senate, will she have an accident, Chicago style?
If sheb resigns, the GOP should bottle up any confirmation hearings until the next President takes office. The Democrats do that kind of thing all the time.
The GOP won’t of course
Romney appointed mostly liberals to the court as Governor
The GOP Senate will confirm anything put to a vote
Ok, folks, correct me if I’m wrong, but doesn’t the nomination and appointment process take 6 months or so? If we assume that the process were started next week, wouldn’t it be too late? I would think that any nomination now would be held up in the Senate, until there election is over with.
Umm, Souter was nominated by Bush the Elder...
But Romney is better than Bammy....
With Bammy we would get a full on Commie, with Romney we will get a psuedo-socialist...
I would remind you that Romney has a history of nominating very liberal judges.
I’d feel a lot better abut Romney if hadn’t nominated all those liberal Dem judges in MA.
No one rationally thinks a SCOTUS nominee could be confirmed before January. It just takes too long. This happened back in ‘68 IIRC.
Four more Souters!
It does not matter as Obama will be shown to be constitutionally unqualified for office and each of his appointments to the court will be disqualified.
No it wasn't, it was a 7-2 decision. Breyer and Souter said there should ideally be a recount, but there wasn't enough time in any case.
I don't trust him on judges, but we'll have to be vigilant. If Obama wins, his picks will be at least as bad as the ones he has made so far.
Unfortunately even when Presidents try to pick conservative justices, it doesn't always work. Two of Nixon's four turned out to be liberals. One of Bush-41's two joined the liberal bloc.
Not to mention that when the recounting was done, it turned out that Bush had won Florida’s electoral votes anyway. They never mention that detail.
1. McConnell wants to be MAJORITY leader..the conservative majority in the Senate GOP caucus..led by DeMint, Paul, Lee, Rubio, among others..would toss him overboard if he didn't.
2. Leahy's speech this week, when he all but threatened SC justices..alone makes the case to block any nomination by Obama..
I wouldn’t call a majority of GOP Senators “conservative”
Sounds like a rush to try to get another Obama appointee in.
So, what color is the sky on your planet?
Its a big concern. Liberals can’t get their vile agenda through legislative process, so they need activist judges to break the law and force the public into liberalism. Its hard to be a tyrant without suppressing the voice of the citizens.
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