[hchutch]

Seems to me that all SCOTUS did was expand the protection against excessive fines and cruel and unusual punishment to include civil cases, which is quite reasonable given the fact that the standard of proof is much lower than in a criminal case.

The trial lawyers have imposed a hidden "lawyer tax" on this economy, often by running up punitive damages to an obscene amount. That's not provided for in the Constitution, by any stretch of the imagination.

So it took what some might consider judicial activism. Big deal. SCOTUS has just cut the lawyer tax on the American economy and that is a good thing. Don't look this gift horse in the mouth.

[APBaer]

"Seems to me that all SCOTUS did was expand the protection against excessive fines and cruel and unusual punishment to include civil cases"

No, I'm afraid you got it backwards.
Last week they said that there was no proportionality requirement in the constitution for excessive fines and cruel and unusual punishment.

[johnb838]

Trial lawyers had themselves a little shakedown racket going. Perfectly legal. Now its not. Too bad, my heart bleeds. Gotta love a supreme court decision -- no appeals, no reversals.

This is another bloody nose for the demons. It is going to slash their campaign budgets dramatically. And help the economy, which is also bad for them.