Here's Jamie Raskin, law professor at American University:
In 2000, in Bush v. Gore, the Rehnquist Court, by a 5-4 margin, called off vote-counting by the state of Florida and determined the outcome of a presidential election in favor of one lucky Texan.
In 2010, in Citizens United, the Roberts Court, by a 5-4 margin, declared that private corporations have a First Amendment right to engage in unlimited campaign spending and likely altered, for as long as anyone can see, the outcome of every major contested election in the country in favor of CEOs and Republican consultants who bundle their money.
The Supreme Court stole one election and sold off the rest of them.
This analysis is chillingly accurate. The Supreme Court right now is the plutocrats' ace in the hole. Whenever their paid servants, in the executive or legislative branch, assert some independence and manage to accomplish something that benefits the bottom 99%, the plutocrats turn to the friendly five Justices to put a stop to it. If there was no other reason to prevent, at all costs, a Republican from gaining the White House in 2012, the nomination of new Justices should be enough to make this a priority. "Liberal activist Judges" are actually exceedingly rare. All we need are people willing to decide cases on the merits, without trying to use their considerable power to undo generations of social and political progress. We may get more such nominees from Barack Obama. No Republican President, on the other hand, would resist the pressure from the right-wing to appoint another Alito or Roberts.
6 comments:
Until we can guarantee free and fair elections, things aren't going to get much better in the U.S.
I work as a paralegal... it would be so cool if we had that picture hanging at the office! Thanks for the post.
This is a wonderful post. I'll have to link to it. Thanks
Thomas Jefferson hated the power wielded by the Supremes and railed against it virtually to the day he died. It is a dilemma. Great post but what happened to the picture?
There once was a time in our country when receiving a corporate charter, a corporation had to serve in the best interest of the public and not for their own personal financial gain.
Back then a local community along with their local governments could vote to strip a charter away from any offending corporation.
This all changed in the late 1800's when the 14th amendment was hijacked, subverting our bill of rights by granting corporations, personhood, by claiming that corporations were intended to fully enjoy the legal status and protections created for human beings.
Once this change took place it removed local communities and local governments the ability to strip corporations of their charters as it was now a constitutional matter for the courts and Judges in collusion with the corporations.
Of course those protections for corporations by perverting the 14th amendment was just the beginning of our country's slow but steady slide into a corporate oligarchy.
It was only a matter of time before the Supreme Court would again rule in favor of their masters, the corporations, by selling our elections to the highest bidders....the corporations, with the Citizens United decision of January 2010.
The citizens united decision may just have sealed our country's fate. Welcome to the United Corporations Of America! Bow to the corporate logo, who was given the breath of life to speak like a man, by the unelected and unaccountable black robes.
Thanks to all for comments. If you, Insidious Prophet, feel inclined to expand on the excellent historical analysis offered in your comment, I'd be honored to publish such an essay here.
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