From today's CNN.com:
Alito "will tip the balance of the scales of justice," said Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the Senate's No. 2 Democrat. "He will tip the balance against protecting our basic privacy and personal freedoms. He will tip the balance in favor of presidential power even when it violates the law."
I typically don't offer much political commentary; there are many more comprehensive and informed sources for dialogue than good ol' Mulberry Street. I thought this comment was interesting, however. Sure it's rhetoric-al, and even practical as every high school student learns in government class that the highest court is to be a check on the executive and legislative powers.
However, I've never quite understood the Democrats' inherrent concern in swinging the "balance" of the court. The president, elected by the people, has the power to nominate Supreme Court justices. Hence the make-up of the court can shift slightly as different presidents are elected by the people. That, in fact, is the very check--and the only check--that the executive branch has on the judicial branch of government. Whatever one's politics are, I would think this would be taken as a good thing, rather than focusing on replacing one justice with another justice who most closely mimics the departing one.
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2 comments:
The confirmation process is also one of the legistlative checks on the judicial branch.
And, conceivably, either party could throw enough of a hissy fit (and they both have in the past) to bring things to a screeching halt. That's really effective governing.
If people would just remember that our government was never designed to bring about abrupt and massive changes (a la Federalist Papers), they would stop expecting it from a system that isn't supposed to provide it.
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