Take heart! Senate Democrats can hopefully never do as badly as they did

[TahitiNut]

... in confirming Clarence Thomas in 1991. The abominable leap to the fascist right in SCOTUS from Thurgood Marshall to Clarence Thomas would be hard to match in any foreseeable future. I personally wish that Justice Marshall would've pulled a Rehnquist and expired while on the Court, permitting Clinton another nominee ... but such is life.

Thomas was confirmed by the Senate with a 52-48 vote on October 15, 1991, making it the closest confirmation vote for a Justice in the 20th century. The vote was not strictly by party line; he received "yea" votes from 41 Republicans and 11 Democrats and "nay" votes from 46 Democrats and 2 Republicans.


--- Lurch To The Right --->

[Maat]

1. I miss Justice Marshall ..

and Justice Earl Warren.

[TahitiNut]

2. I also miss William O. Douglas - 36 years on the Court.

He became one of the staunchest defenders of First Amendment rights in the Court's history. We should always remember that Douglas wrote the leading majority opinion in Griswold v. Connecticut, finding a "right to privacy" in the "penumbras" of the first ten amendments of the Bill of Rights. Without Griswold, there would've never been a Roe v. Wade.

[Maat]

3. I miss HIM too.

Will we ever have justices on the Court in their class again?

[TahitiNut]

5. As long as they interpret the Constitution as Limiiting Human Rights? No.

That's what's so appalling about this crop of 'strict constructionists' - it's a complete lie. The Constitution was designed to place strict limits on government, not people. These people are turning it on its head ... seeing all manner of government power and very little civil liberty except for corporations (who prey on human rights).

Once upon a time, a 'literalist' like Douglas stood firm against abridgements of civil liberties. Now the so-called 'conservatives' are marching towards a plantation society, where ownership is everything and human beings are merely an expendable commodity - fodder for the entitlements of the wealthy in a global corporate empire.

[Maat]

6. Oh, that 'strict constructionist' or 'originalist' baloney ..

propaganda for their base ... just drives me nuts.

Scalia's opinions make me think he's crazy as a loon. Thomas just can't articulate anything close to a decent opinion.

By contrast, reading a Marshall, Douglas or Warren opinion was both educational and enjoyable.

[TahitiNut]

7. Well, that kind of 'nuts' is a good thing to a Nut like me.

:evilgrin:

Since college in the 60s, I've read SCOTUS opinions for the sheer enjoyment of the quality of logic and ethics expressed. With the Rehnquist Court and the lurch to the fascist right, I'm driven to a rage with the specious contortions and corrupt sophistries on the right. Their unrestrained rape of justice is appalling!

[Maat]

8. Well put!

A toast to good Supreme Court opinions - that clearly and definitively articulate the rights of the people!

:toast:

[leftchick]

4. I was thinking of this just this morning

I can't remember the traitor dems that voted for this piece of shit. He was not even qualified for cripes sakes. :grr:

[Gregorian]

9. And Kennedy will be the swing vote instead of O'Connor.

Thanks. That sort of helps. But perspective isn't helping me. I want leaps in the other direction. The country has sucked since 1980.

[TahitiNut]

10. "I want leaps in the other direction." Exactly!

Until we actually start moving back to the left, there is NO progress in terms of liberty and justice for all! So, whether we call ourselves 'liberals' or 'progressives,' we have had absolutely nothing to be pleased with since about 1980. The Clinton/Gore era was a time of stasis in terms of civil liberties, not a time of 'progress.' Universal health care was defeated and set back for at least two decades while we've since seen the number of people without adequate health care exploded. The "don't ask. don't tell" abomination in the military marked a loss for personal privacy and human rights as seen in the multi-front assaults on GLBT in virtually every state. Economic justice has continued to decline without recovery, with only variances in the rate at which the vast gulf between the rich and the rest has widened.

There is absolutely no satisfaction whatsoever to be taken by liberals in merely slowing the rate at which we have become a banana republic. When we delude ourselves into thinking that 'all would be better' if Democrats could win in the next election or the one following, we're merely pretending that things aren't as bad as they are ... and they are, for damned sure.