On Conservative Judicial Activism:
This is a continuation of sorts from the material located HERE. My words will be in regular font here.
If we get ideologues who happen to vote the way we like, then we are as guilty of using the Court to pass laws by fiat as the other side. No, thank you.
There are two ideologues on the court right now on the conservative side{1} and possibly a third.{2} On balance they are all good folks and rule as I think is appropriate 90-95% of the time but they also have activist tendencies here and there and as one who has spent literally decades railing against judicial activism,{3} it really makes me bristle when conservatives suddenly stop condemning activism on the court when it touches their pet issues.
The bulk of the conservatives did it on NFIB in 2012 when they sought to portray the bullshit that the mandate could not be severed from the ACA; ergo, they should strike the whole statute{4} and they did it here by cosigning a written dissent on a denial of ceriatori here: something that next to never happens because decisions to take a case or not are not supposed to be ideological. But because Planned Parenthood was on the case names here, the ideologues on the right just had to try and get it before them. While not the only two examples I could mention, they are two fairly notable ones, the former because it took the mask off the facade of conservative opposition to judicial activism as a matter of principle,{5} the latter because it seeks to make ideological a routine denial of ceratori which happens roughly 7920 out of 8000 times every term{6}or to put it in mathematical terms, 99% of the time.
Notes:
{1} Referring to Justice Thomas and Justice Alito.
{2} The jury is still out on Justice Gorsuch in that area.
{3} Here is just one example of many I could pull from the archives on this subject for anyone interested:
On the Previous Audiopost and Our Final Post on the Miers Nomination (circa October 27, 2005)
{4} This happened when the present website was suspended but I wrote elsewhere on my displeasure with this at the time.
{5} As opposed to a matter of convenience.
{6} And is being spun that way by clownservatard activists who are downright shameless in what they are doing.
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Friday, December 14, 2018
Thursday, December 13, 2018
Briefly...
I am reminded from time to time as with the responses from many on the right viz the SCOTUS denial of ceratori in two cases tangentially related to abortion that the right can be just as judicially activist as they frequently squawk about the left being.
Its as if many on the right see Planned Parenthood and are blinded to everything else. This case had to do with Medicaid and Medicaid funding which cannot by law be used for abortions.{1} So how on earth even taking the case would come within 10,000 miles of touching Casey is quite the Scooby Doo mystery. The more conservatives pull this activist crap, the less I trust them as a group to call fair balls and strikes.
I am reminded from time to time as with the responses from many on the right viz the SCOTUS denial of ceratori in two cases tangentially related to abortion that the right can be just as judicially activist as they frequently squawk about the left being.
Its as if many on the right see Planned Parenthood and are blinded to everything else. This case had to do with Medicaid and Medicaid funding which cannot by law be used for abortions.{1} So how on earth even taking the case would come within 10,000 miles of touching Casey is quite the Scooby Doo mystery. The more conservatives pull this activist crap, the less I trust them as a group to call fair balls and strikes.
Note:
{1} See The Hyde Amendment for details.
What Straight-A Students Get Wrong
A poignant bit from the link above:
"...If I could do it over again, I’d study less. The hours I wasted memorizing the inner workings of the eye would have been better spent trying out improv comedy and having more midnight conversations about the meaning of life..."
A poignant bit from the link above:
"...If I could do it over again, I’d study less. The hours I wasted memorizing the inner workings of the eye would have been better spent trying out improv comedy and having more midnight conversations about the meaning of life..."