I think a lot of us understand that the we have a Supreme Court dominated by regressives, corporate money men and ethical nightmares like Clarence Thomas (if he were a sitting judge in almost any state or county venue hed probably be disbarred by now for ethical violations but thats another story because Supreme Court justices really are above the ethical bar and not held to the same stringent professional standards that require a judge to recuse himself when their is a conflict of interest)... ANYWAY, do you know who appointed the 9 justices? Well heres the lowdown: A minority, 4 of 9, were nominated by Democratic presidents Clinton and Obama (Sotomayor and Kagan/Obama and Ginsburg and Breyer/Clinton. The majority of 5 were nominated by Reagan and both Bush presidents (Scalia and Kennedy/Reagan; Thomas by Bush 1 and Alito and current Chief Justice Roberts by Bush 2). See the problem? People who say the system is rigged and who say elections dont matter are, IMO, idiots. EVERYTHING MATTERS.... and nothing more than who is elected president and to Congress and the Senate and governorships. Presidents may be hampered and frustrated by obstructionist Congresses and weak or craven Senators and their landmark legislative victories may be sabotaged by the states... a lesson in how this happens has played out over the last 6 years. However, the legacy that most endures and may in some ways be considered the most game-changing are presidential appointments to the Supreme Court and federal judiciary. Supreme Ct justices last far longer than any presidential 8 yr concurrent term... these men and women can reign on the Sup Ct for decades. Clearly, someone will retire or die before 2020, 6 yrs away. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is 80 and frail and fighting pancreatic cancer. Four other justices are in their 70s. Its obviously impossible to predict when a vacancy will occur. Justice John Paul Stevens spent 35 years on the court and retired at 90, while Justice Robert H. Jackson, who served in the 1940s and 1950s, died of a heart attack at 62. In 2006 the Harvard Journal of Law and Public Policy reported that the average retirement age for justices was 78.7. Here are some good articles: nytimes/2012/06/28/us/presidential-election-could-reshape-an-aging-supreme-court.html?_r=0
Posted on: Thu, 03 Apr 2014 13:24:50 +0000
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