Barack Obama and the importance of the courts
November 10th 2008 03:06
As reported by The New York Times, the federally appointed judiciary has become quite stacked under George W. Bush. Ignore conservative yap traps who cry about "activist liberal judges" who have, in their opinion, control of the American courts. The facts show quite a different story. According to the Times report about 62 percent of judges serving by the end of the Bush presidency are conservative.
The Times goes on to report that not only will 62 percent of the appointed judiciary be conservative when Barack Obama is sworn in, they are especially young and on the more conservative side of the scale. They will have influence for decades. The conservative appointees also control 10 of the 13 circuit courts. And the neo-cons want the other three.
What does an Obama presidency mean? That a woman's right to choose will likely remain hers. Discrimination written into law (like the anti-gay measures passed on November 4th) can continue to be challenged. Those are two of the big controversies surrounding courts, but hardly the only. Myriad decisions involving environmental law, corporate greed and malfeasance, education, and church-state insertions.
It's not just that the judges are conservative, either. Alot of them are from the same judicial cloth as the likes of Supreme Court Justices Scalia and Thomas. It's no coincidence those names are often mentioned by conservobots when asked what a judge should be like. Instead of moderate conservatives with a thorough understanding of how laws are supposed to help society we have alot of corporate fascists wanna-bes like Scalia..
The three states who voted in 2008 to join others who had tried to write discrimination into law will present a challenge to courts all across America. Remember - just because a majority voted for something doesn't give it automatic legitimacy. When it was legal to deny women the vote, when it was legal to own other people, there were judges who took the right stand. On the other side - when Hitler rose to power in Germany it was courts who gave him a stamp of approval. It's all in the demeanor of the court and the independent thought of the judges.
We need courts that will enforce our laws, respect our freedoms, and defend us against those who would trash either. Judges who will once again place individuals above corporations who would loot the treasury and rape the land. If the current financial crisis tells us one thing, it is that far too little jurisprudence has been looking over corporate America's shoulder.
Barack Obama will start returning the courts to balance and respectability. It may well prove to be one of the most enduring themes of his presidency.
The Times goes on to report that not only will 62 percent of the appointed judiciary be conservative when Barack Obama is sworn in, they are especially young and on the more conservative side of the scale. They will have influence for decades. The conservative appointees also control 10 of the 13 circuit courts. And the neo-cons want the other three.
What does an Obama presidency mean? That a woman's right to choose will likely remain hers. Discrimination written into law (like the anti-gay measures passed on November 4th) can continue to be challenged. Those are two of the big controversies surrounding courts, but hardly the only. Myriad decisions involving environmental law, corporate greed and malfeasance, education, and church-state insertions.
It's not just that the judges are conservative, either. Alot of them are from the same judicial cloth as the likes of Supreme Court Justices Scalia and Thomas. It's no coincidence those names are often mentioned by conservobots when asked what a judge should be like. Instead of moderate conservatives with a thorough understanding of how laws are supposed to help society we have alot of corporate fascists wanna-bes like Scalia..
The three states who voted in 2008 to join others who had tried to write discrimination into law will present a challenge to courts all across America. Remember - just because a majority voted for something doesn't give it automatic legitimacy. When it was legal to deny women the vote, when it was legal to own other people, there were judges who took the right stand. On the other side - when Hitler rose to power in Germany it was courts who gave him a stamp of approval. It's all in the demeanor of the court and the independent thought of the judges.
We need courts that will enforce our laws, respect our freedoms, and defend us against those who would trash either. Judges who will once again place individuals above corporations who would loot the treasury and rape the land. If the current financial crisis tells us one thing, it is that far too little jurisprudence has been looking over corporate America's shoulder.
Barack Obama will start returning the courts to balance and respectability. It may well prove to be one of the most enduring themes of his presidency.
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