And, speaking of center right (see below), when John Paul Stevens was appointed by (Center Right) president Gerald Ford, he represented a mainstream Center Right position. As John Dean commented last week on Ian Masters' excellent radio program Daily Briefing (go to kpfk.org / audio archives to download), it's just amazing that Stevens is now being commented on as the "most liberal member of the court," as he's leaving. His positions have hardly changed. But the court is now dominated by four right wing extremists, with one very conservative "swing vote" (Kennedy), balanced against four Centrists. This rightward tilt of the court is a terrible weight on our society, which I hope President Obama takes very, very seriously. He can't change the balance of the court very much to the left in replacing Stevens, but he sure could make things worse by not nominating an at least reasonably progressive person, preferably not from the Circuit Court of Appeals. It's time to restore the tradition of having policy-minded politicians on the court, not only former judges. And the choice fo this president should be someone who strongly opposes the recent trends towards right wing judicial activism which this court has demonstrated.
By the way, hope and pray, friends, that the president never appoints his friend Cass Sunnstein, who thought Alito was "fine," and who has defended Bush torture policies repeatedly, to any judicial office. Sunnstein has been practically lobbying for a supreme court nomination, and he would be an awful, awful choice.
19 April 2010
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