The Supreme Court uses judicial activism for conservative ends
By E.J. Dionne Jr., WashPost, Published: June 26
We prefer to think of the Supreme Court as an institution apart from politics and above its struggles. In the wake of this week’s decision gutting the heart of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, its actions must now be viewed through the prism of the conservative movement’s five-decade-long quest for power.
Liberals will still win occasional and sometimes partial victories, as they did Wednesday on same-sex marriage. But on issues directly related to political and economic influence, the court’s conservative majority is operating as a political faction, determined to shape a future in which progressives will find themselves at a disadvantage.
It’s true that the rulings against the Defense of Marriage Act and California’s Proposition 8 show how the liberalizing trend on some social issues is hard for even a conservative court to resist.
A key part of the Defense of Marriage Act was invalidated because one of the conservatives, Justice Anthony Kennedy, has joined much of the American public in moving, admirably, toward greater sympathy for gay and lesbian rights.
(More here.)
We prefer to think of the Supreme Court as an institution apart from politics and above its struggles. In the wake of this week’s decision gutting the heart of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, its actions must now be viewed through the prism of the conservative movement’s five-decade-long quest for power.
Liberals will still win occasional and sometimes partial victories, as they did Wednesday on same-sex marriage. But on issues directly related to political and economic influence, the court’s conservative majority is operating as a political faction, determined to shape a future in which progressives will find themselves at a disadvantage.
It’s true that the rulings against the Defense of Marriage Act and California’s Proposition 8 show how the liberalizing trend on some social issues is hard for even a conservative court to resist.
A key part of the Defense of Marriage Act was invalidated because one of the conservatives, Justice Anthony Kennedy, has joined much of the American public in moving, admirably, toward greater sympathy for gay and lesbian rights.
(More here.)
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2 Comments:
Poor Mr. Dionne, he seems chronically sad. Overturning DOMA should make all left of the aisle types happy. Could it be that Dionne's unhappiness stems from the fact that a conservative court just 'overturned' something many Democrats (and to be fair, almost all the GOP's) were for and a Democrat president signed into law?
How can the ruling in Shelby County v. Holder be anything but judicial activism ?
The Court said Congress should rewrite the law ... and it had a chance to do that on July 13,2006 when Republicans rejected an amendment to do what the Court is now saying must be done ... Republicans voted 124 to 95 that the current Federal review was still required.
Congress had a chance and Republicans and Democrats said it was still needed ... but now the Supreme Court inserted itself via a 5-4 ruling ... a vote that re-enforces Dionne's assertion This is not an argument about what the Constitution says. It is a battle for power. And, despite scattered liberal triumphs, it is a battle that conservatives are winning.
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