> All the Naderites said the Supreme Court
> > doesn't matter, so vote Nader.
Right, I was and am a Naderite, and I didn't say that.
Not all the Naderites, but you essentially continue to do so...
>After all, two of the good
>guys are Gopsters (Stevens and Souter). I clerked for a great Gopster judge
>on the 7C, Ilana Diamond Rovner. And, btw, the other two "good guys,"
Breyer
>and Ginsberg, aren't that good--certainly compared (say) to Blackmun, a
>Gopster, or even the other Minn Twin, Burger. No Dem would dare appoint
>anyone as far left as Burger today.
I don't buy it, even with Blackmun who was a classic "mistake", voting increasingly different from what was expected, as with Souter. But Burger gutted desegregation and promoted exactly the line of states rights cases that we are seeing the endpoint of. Blackmun and Burger both supported the original Rehnquist decision back in 1976 that argued state governments were immune to minimum wage laws. This NATIONAL LEAGUE OF CITIES decision was overturned in 1985, largely because Blackmun changed his mind as he moved into greater liberalism as he aged, but Burger maintained his same states rights politics. And note that when Blackmun was nominated, the goal was his original conservative views, which Nixon hoped would be like Burgers and Rehnquists.
Justin, your defense of Burger, like the defense of Nixon, is obscene. Both men's goals were to move policy as far right as they could; they were often strategic in moving slowly, but to compare their politics of racism and states rights to the liberalism, however moderate at times, of Breyer and Ginsburg, is just ridiculous.
To restate the question again, name one progressive federal law that either Breyer or Ginsburg has voted to overturn on constitutional grounds? You can't name them because they don't exist. The rightwing on the Court, on the other hand, dating from the 1970s, have been trying to overturn a slew of federal laws to enforce justice on the states and on private corporations.
That is a radical difference and neither Blackmun nor Burger are even close to Breyer and Ginsburg on that point. (And by the way, while I like Stevens, he has been quite anti-union in some decisions and rather weak on progressive first amendment issues at points).
-- Nathan Newman