And Here's Something Else To Worry About

In the midst of all the economic turmoil and the governmental response to it, coupled with campaign rhetoric much of which doesn't seem to have any grounding in reality, the one thing that has kept me out of complete despair has been the federal judiciary. On Friday, I posted on a Second Circuit appellate decision which stuck down a trial court decision on the basis of a clear denial of a fair trial. There have been a number of important decisions that have issued from the federal courts at the appellate level, including the Supreme Court decisions which have slapped the Bush Administration around for denying the most basic of civil rights, habeas corpus.

Unfortunately, the Supreme Court has also issued some rulings that haven't been so forthright, especially with respect to employment and immigration law. Some pretty obvious ground work has also been laid for the roll back of Roe v Wade, and I suspect that in the next year or two, a case will go up which will challenge that landmark decision. Up to this point, we've been able to avoid that kind of disaster because of a justice appointed by Gerald Ford: John Paul Stevens. He, however, is now 88 years old, and it is likely that he will not be on the bench that much longer. And that means that the next president will have at least one vacancy to fill, if not more.

Ellen Goodman, in her column published in the Boston Globe, makes it clear that November 4 is crucial when it comes to the United States Supreme Court.

George W. Bush's shadow will hover over the country long after he's gone, in the shape of John Roberts and Samuel Alito. In just three years and counting, the Roberts court has chilled desegregation efforts, allowed the first abortion ban with no exception for a woman's health, made it harder to claim employment discrimination, and easier to mix church and state.

In the cold world of actuarial tables, the next president is certain to have one choice and probably more. Candidates for retirement are Stevens, the 75-year-old Ruth Ginsburg, and the homesick David Souter. That's three of the four moderate and liberal justices on a bench that has made an art of 5-4 decisions.

You do the math. If Obama is elected, the court will stay pretty much the way it is. If McCain is elected, Katy bar the door.

Somehow all the dry powder now looks a bit superfluous, doesn't it?

That aside, however, it's clear that this presidential election is going to be crucial when it comes to the Supreme Court. That ought to be enough to get all of us off our hind ends and out into the street registering voters and getting them out to vote. Otherwise, we are going to have another 20 years of George W. Bush.