Blog Credo

The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.

H.L. Mencken

Monday, June 15, 2020

Too Much To Hope For?

Today's landmark and almost shocking decision to extend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to LGBT Americans is a welcome development in a sea of shitty news. Since Anthony Kennedy's retirement, there has been some worry that the Court will reverse every important civil rights and minority rights ruling.  Today, we hold out some hope that Roberts and Gorsuch aren't complete revanchists.

Also, the troika of true reactionaries lost their collective shit over this very reasonable ruling.  I've always felt that Roberts is constrained by the knowledge that "the Roberts Court" will be held responsible to history in much the same way the Taney Court has been. If he overrules Congress enough, he will delegitimize the Court and invite widespread reforms (should Democrats ever get enough votes in the Senate) that would weaken the conservative levers in the judicial system.

After reading the unhinged rantings of Alito and Kavanaugh, would it be too much to hope for that Roberts and Gorsuch develop a personal distaste for the troika that pushes them leftwards?

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