Today's decision by the Supreme Court to uphold the constitutionality of the so-called 'Partial-Birth Abortion Ban' legislated by the republican Congress in 2003 casts a glaring light on the extent to which right-wing power still dominates our government.
There are many reasons to work for a Democratic victory in the Presidential sweepstakes in 2008. There are as many, or more, to work for expanded majorities in Congress. There are burning issues of policy that need our attention - Iraq, global warming, healthcare.
But the biggest stumbling block to a Progressive rejuvenation of America is the reactionary majority on the Supreme Court we saw in action today. And there is only one way to overturn it.
Article II, Section 2, of the U.S. Constitution vests the power of appointing Supreme Court Justices in the President. Now, take a look at the Justices; from the official bios (.pdf):
John G. Roberts, Jr., Chief Justice of the United States, was born in Buffalo, New York, January 27, 1955.
John Paul Stevens, Associate Justice, was born in Chicago, Illinois, April 20, 1920.
Antonin Scalia, Associate Justice, was born in Trenton, New Jersey, March 11, 1936.
Anthony M. Kennedy, Associate Justice, was born in Sacramento, California, July 23, 1936.
David Hackett Souter, Associate Justice, was born in Melrose, Massachusetts,September 17, 1939.
Clarence Thomas, Associate Justice, was born in the Pin Point community of Georgia near Savannah June 23, 1948.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Associate Justice, was born in Brooklyn, New York, March 15, 1933.
Stephen G. Breyer, Associate Justice, was born in San Francisco, California, August 15, 1938.
Samuel Anthony Alito, Jr., Associate Justice, was born in Trenton, New Jersey, April 1, 1950.
If we assume that the next President will be a two-termer, at the end of his (or her) second term in 2016, the Justices will be, respectively, 66, 96, 80, 80, 77, 68, 83, 78 and 66 years of age. There will be retirements; and probably not retirements we'd be happy with, if you consider that the youngest members of the Court are Roberts, Alito and Thomas. We, all of us, need to make sure that the replacements for departing Justices are appointed by a Democratic President and confirmed by a strong Democratic Senate majority.
I'm very supportive of John Edwards, and not all that appreciative of some of the other Presidential contenders. I've also been disenchanted with some of our Senators. But whoever the nominee may be, whether it's my preferred choice or not, I'm ready to work my little tail off for getting him or her elected. The same applies to the Senate; let's get those sixty votes we need, because as surely as God made little apples, Senate republicans will filibuster any true Progressive nominee to the Court. Conversely, there's reason to be somewhat skeptical of the ability of Democrats to keep the next Alito off the court; we saw how that went.
Mind you, it's not just about choice. It's also about the unitary executive, about torture, about Habeas Corpus, equal rights for all Americans, the broader right to privacy, freedom of speech, campaign finance reform, even the need for open access to the Internet. Every single one of those issues is likely to wind up on the docket of the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court is the keystone of our Constitution, the final arbiter of everything our government does.
The next election is going to determine the future course of this country for decades, via those appointments the next President will make. If that's, say, a President Giuliani, we'll be looking at the most reactionary Supreme Court since FDR. That's not a friendly prospect. At all.