The latest poll from Survey USA has Bush now at 37 approve, 60 disapprove. Not too different from what we’ve been seeing, but these results break down by state, and I think they’re breathtaking. They go a long way to...
Read MoreThe current battle over Supreme Court appointments reveals more than just partisan bickering. It spotlights basic flaws in the US judicial system. Among the most obvious questions is the lifelong tenure granted to Supreme Court justices. Roberts, for example, may run the court through the terms of the next 10 presidents.
An excellent article by Ronald Brownstein in the LA Times reports that a growing coalition from the left and right is questioning whether lifetime appointments still serve the purposes intended by the founders:
Read MoreJustices today, on average, remain on the high court longer and retire at a more advanced age than ever before. Supreme Court justices now routinely serve a quarter-century or more. No justice has retired at an age younger than 75 since 1981 (when Potter Stewart stepped down at 66).
The Soviet Politburo probably turned over faster.
Which is why an informal band of prominent legal thinkers from left and right is challenging the Constitution’s grant of lifetime tenure to Supreme Court justices. With life spans lengthening, and the court’s members clinging so tenaciously to their robes, these critics want to limit justices to a single fixed term, usually set at 18 years.
So far, no prominent politician has joined them. But the idea seems destined to generate more discussion as frustration in both parties mounts over the process of selecting and confirming Supreme Court nominees.
As far as I know, AP doesn’t usually run editorial comment. It made an exception for the handling of the disaster, though, and did a masterful job of summing up the anguish so many Americans feel at what has been allowed...
Read MoreCindy Sheehan catches hearts and consciences worldwide with her struggle to transform personal grief and anger into a drive to save other Americans from the fate suffered by her son and herself and her family. She is met with...
Read MoreI keep thinking I’m used to it, and then some little thing comes along that gets me agonizing about the death of reality in America. This time it was in the persona of Cheney. An AP report contrasted the little lie with...
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