Friday, June 15, 2012

The Not So Supreme Court

I despise what is going on in this country.
Just read an article in Time magazine about Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy. The fate of this nation, as far as interpretation of law and making decisions on landmark cases goes, is in his hands. That's because there are nine Supreme Court justices - four are conservative, four are liberal and Kennedy, at heart a conservative, bounces back and forth.
This is because past Presidents have stacked the court with justices who suit their needs, justices who share the same political leanings. They have made the highest court in the land partisan. I am not astute enough to know if it has always been this way, but I do believe it is worse now than ever.
The criteria for choosing a Supreme Court justice should be objectivity. They are tasked with interpreting law in a way that has far reaching impact morally, legally, politically and financially.
Kennedy scares me. His decisions have fallen on both sides of the fence, so you don't really know where he stands. In the past twenty five years he has cast the deciding vote in cases dealing with abortion, the death penalty, gay rights, the war on terrorism, campaign finance and school prayer.
How's that for power?
By the end of this month we will know the court's decision on President Obama's health care reforms. Kennedy's comments so far indicate that he has not decided where he sides on this issue. There are major points to be made on both sides of this argument but in general I believe the President's health care reforms are a good thing. Whether or not Congress has the right to force people to buy private insurance, I don't know. I do know if the reforms are defeated by this court, it will be a major blow to President Obama's campaign. Review of this case should have been delayed until after the election, and don't tell me they could not do that; they can do anything they want. So the timing of this case makes it a political decision.
Kennedy cast the deciding vote on Citizens United; the decision that opened the floodgates for unlimited campaign donations by individuals and corporations. His ruling in part stated: "independent expenditures, including those made by corporations, do not give rise to corruption or the appearance of corruption."
Are you serious? That sounds like a decision made by a guy whose month long all expense paid vacation on Maui was clandestinely financed by Halliburton.
He has voted in favor of allowing abortion and then in subsequent decisions made it harder to get abortions.
My point is that he has too much power. Every Supreme Court vote should be a situation of evaluating the facts with respect to our Constitution and the laws of the land. On the part of all nine justices.
Those days are obviously gone, if they ever even existed.
You have the country moving backwards on gay rights, womens' rights, civil rights,  workers' rights and preserving the environment.
You have a republican House and Congress that will block anything President Obama tries to do.
You have voter suppression laws being passed all around the country to make it harder for people to vote.
Racism is uglier than ever and out in the open.
Wall Street and Big Banking are openly corrupt, gleefully destroying the economy and laughing at any attempt to reign them in.
The future of any American other than the wealthy is being willfully flushed down the toilet.
And you have one man on the Supreme Court making the most critical, the most influential decisions that can be made.
I wish George Washington and Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson and the rest of those dudes could come back from the grave and straighten things out.
After taking a look around and projectile vomiting for fifteen minutes, they would grab republicans and the wealthy by the throat and say: "You have perverted our principles, our rights and privileges; you have taken a precious idea, that of democracy, and turned it into a vile and corrupt system."
Come on, America - we are slipping into darkness and most of the voters in this country are watching Keeping Up With The Kardashians instead of keeping up with the activities of those who will destroy this country.
Excuse me, I have to go kneel in front of the toilet.

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