Since the Supreme Court did not strike down the individual mandate section of the Affordable Care Act as many expected, some have thought, “Hmm, maybe the court isn’t so conservative.” Maybe you even thought you saw a ray of hope in terms of campaign finance reform in the future.
But upon further review of other recent cases, it’s clear the court is not only becoming more conservative (as can be seen in this chart), but it is also establishing itself as a force of its own. In an editorial posted in the NYTimes on June 30th, the author states:
"In a union dues case, it broke a court rule by deciding an issue that was not presented in the case and went out of its way to take the side of right-to-work laws, which have been the subject of bitter political debate. On campaign finance, it overturned the Montana Supreme Court ruling in favor of the state’s anticorruption law without hearing oral argument or considering a substantial factual record. In doing so, it extended to state campaign finance regulation the Citizens United ruling, which allows corporations and unions to spend freely in elections, the Roberts court’s most devastating decision."
Indeed, even on the recent ruling in the Arizona immigration case, Justice Scalia’s dissent went past the bounds of the actual ruling. He also commented on President Obama’s recent decision regarding undocumented youth, which had absolutely nothing to do with the case.
Here, Ezra Klein, via the Rachel Maddow show, discusses leaks that came out of the conservative side of the court. The Supreme Court is known for its secrecy, so leaks of this kind are heretofore unheard of.
Perhaps this shift in the court can explain its low-standing with the American public. Unfortunately, these aren’t positions that can be voted in or out. The power of the court lies in presidential nominations.
John Cleveland commented
2012-07-03 11:14:17 -0600
· Flag
http://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2012/06/25/reality-check-health-care-the-individual-mandate/
Obama actually campaigned against the individual mandate. How can anyone who isn’t an executive for an insurance company possibly support forcing people to buy insurance? I will be forced to buy insurance and I can’t afford it. The Democratic Party is a right wing party and Obama and others are moving further to the right all the time. The Democratic Party supports right wing policies and has been doing that at least since Ronald Reagan was president. The Democratic Party guarantees that we will always be waging wars to enrich oil companies and to bring the rest of the world under the control of large global corporations.
So-called progressive people have allowed themselves to be tricked into supporting right wing policies. I don’t know how Obama has that power over people who otherwise seem intelligent, but he has managed to neutralize the left in this country by getting people whose politics are left of center to support extreme right wing policies. This is why I have switched my voter registration the Green Party. Democrats are no more intelligent than Republicans, and Republican politicians are generally far more honest about what they say they support. Sure, they support some really bad things, but they actually tell people that’s what they support. Democratic politicians tend to support the same right wing policies, but they lie about it to their gullible supporters. I can’t believe how gullible Democrats are.
