Many of us are in despair over the criminal activities of Bushco, which extend to all 3 branches of the government and don't fire up the American people as much as the iPhone. This latest indignity (atrocity?), the non-pardoning of Scooter Libby, is just a further indication that we are a country of men, not laws.
Bush doesn't wait for judicial vindication of the Unitary Executive Theory. He blithely dismisses a jury trial verdict and the decision of an appeals court that consists partly of two Republican judges.
In essence, he becomes the Judicial branch, just as Cheney claimed possession of the Legislative branch. He reversed the judgment of a criminal convicted of obstruction of justice in the vital investigation of a major breach of national security. He is lawless.
There is a sliver of hope. Justice Anthony Kennedy, although he voted with the majority in Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District #1 to end local voluntary desegration efforts, differs with Chief Justice Robert's opinion in his concurrence:
[The opinion] of the Chief Justice...seems to me to be both inconsistent in its approach and its implications with the history, meaning and reach of the Equal Protection Clause
Diversity, depending on its meaning and definition, is a compelling educational goal a school district may pursue.
[P]arts of the opinion by the Chief Justice imply an all-too-unyielding insistence that race cannot be a factor in instances, when, in my view, it may be taken into account. The plurality opinion is too dismissive of the legitimate interest government has in ensuring all people have equal opportunity regardless of their race.
50 years of experience since Brown v. Board of Education 347 U.S. 483 (1954)should teach us that the problem before us defies so easy a solution. School districts can seek to reach Brown'sobjective of equal educational opportunity.
Perhaps Anthony Kennedy will, by dint of reasoned argument before the court, align himself with the more liberal judges in major cases and surprise us.
Perhaps the Democrats in Congress will go aggressively on the offensive and set the agenda.
Keep hope alive!