Oyez! Oh! Yay!
It's The New Supreme Court Cheer
By Pejman Yousefzadeh Posted in Featured Stories | Law — Comments (2) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
Whatever the depth of displeasure with President Bush from his natural constituency found in the right-of-center section of the political spectrum--and make no mistake, that displeasure is considerable--it should be noted that thanks to the President's two Supreme Court nominees, free speech may very well get a significant boost. McCain-Feingold is bad legislation, and yes, the Administration deserves criticism for having (a) signed it and (b) for having sent Solicitor-General Paul Clement (a great and good man who will hopefully wear the robes of a Supreme Court Justice quite soon) to lend his considerable talents towards the defense of the law. But I find it more than likely that the Administration did know that John Roberts and Samuel Alito were not all that fond of the elements of McCain-Feingold when the two were nominated to the Court. If so, then praise for the Administration's selection of Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito should be amplified if, as expected, the Court moves to restrict McCain-Feingold. To be sure, as stated in pieces covering the oral argument (like this one), there seems to be little appetite for actually overruling McConnell v. Federal Election Commission, but the "blackout provisions" of McCain-Feingold may be so restricted as to make overruling the Court's previous decision unnecessary, thus expanding free speech and striking a serious blow against a seriously bad law.
In other news, one must celebrate this retort by the Chief Justice. Exceedingly well-played.
« Republican Moderates May Walk Away From Veto Threat — Comments (17) | He Loves One Of Them . . . Not. He Loves One Of Them . . . Not. He Loves One Of Them . . . — Comments (2) »
Oyez! Oh! Yay! 2 Comments (0 topical, 2 editorial, 0 hidden) Post a comment »
By the way, SERIOUSLY DIGGING this turn of events, getting to be more and more of a CJ Roberts fan.
But let me be a gloomy Gus and remind us that if W had had his way, we'd have Roberts and Justice Harriet. Alito was a gift from God to Conservatives who went 'to the mattresses' when all was about to be lost.
It's war -- so when can we start shooting back at the enemy Democrats?
Stevens is an example of a justice who enjoys and revels in creating law, exercising power, and maiming and insulting the body politic, the sheer nasty fun of it all.
We may have a chance here to restore the freedom of speech so outwardly important and inwardly despised by liberals. If so they will scream about the Court usurping Congress and the President and why mothers should hide their babies.
"a man's admiration for absolute government is proportinate to the contempt he feels for those around him". Tocqueville