Economic consequences of a very pro-business SCOTUS?

[Selatius]

I predict that if Bush Co. and the financiers behind them get their way, they will have a system that totally caters to the interests of corporations and is slanted against the interests of workers/consumers.

There will be little if anything that could be done in the short-term if the courts are taken over because these are lifetime appointments. Sure, it's relatively easy to take back Congress compared to the courts, but even if Congress were to be recaptured, the frank truth of the matter is that any reforms passed would instantly be challenged in the courts by business interests trying to protect their profits.

What will the pro-business courts do? They'll kill the reforms dead in their tracks. You could pass a law making our election system totally subsidized by taxpayer dollars with a ban on outside special interest money, but what would stop the courts from killing such a law by upholding precedent that special interest donations are protected "free speech" under the 1st Amendment?

If this is the way this country is headed, and I think Alito is going to be confirmed, then there are going to be long-term consequences with a price tag far higher than you are willing to tolerate. There will be nothing stopping the roll-back of social programs because the pro-business courts would stop any effort to protect them.

If you thought the Democrats lack of a concerted effort to undo all the damage Reagan inflicted after he left office was bad, this will be worse because even if the Democratic leaders did wake up, it's probably already too late to stop the hemorrhaging.

[leftstreet]

1. 1600 Bastille Avenue

:shrug:

[The Whiskey Priest]

2. You have hit upon the real threat here....

The Federalist Society membership worries me, more than anything else. We are talking about an organization that believes in a ruling aristocracy made of the wealthy elite.....They think that there are those who should rule by privilege and those whose place it is to be ruled, so they should shut up and sit down.

[OneBlueSky]

3. "they will have a system that totally caters to the interests of . . .

corporations and is slanted against the interests of workers/consumers" . . .

how would that differ from what we now have? . . .

[Selatius]

5. How about no social programs?

How would life be without money for public education, health care, enforcement of labor standards or environmental standards? You'll have something far worse than you do now. You'll have a country where the majority are living in crushing poverty, and where a few individuals own and control everything, and they will have private police forces and armies to enforce their control.

[mmonk]

4. Yes, we're going to go through a dark era for a generation.

Elections won't be able to fix it soon, only time. The supreme court will be the hammer of this new America. Some here don't realize this. It shouldn't happen without a fight.