Judge Voids Nebraska Same-Sex Marriage Ban

The Republicans keep trying to get those damn judges to sit down, shut up, and toe the party line, but the judges keep telling them to kiss their collective ass. I'm loving this.

Sorry for all the political posts- I'm writing my Con Law paper and that's all I have on my brain. I just thought I'd put up a good story to counter all the bad.
New York Times

Praise Jesus!

Fortunately not yet, PJ. At least there are some enclaves of left-minded people who are keeping enough non-Republican congressmen in office to stir up enough dissent.
I wonder how long before the west and east coasts just secede and join Canada?

See, that's the funny thing. In terms of appointees, they already control the judicial branch. Most judges nowadays were appointed by Republicans; it's a natural consequence of the Republican era we've been in since Reagan.

But judges in high-level courts, unlike officials of other branches, aren't elected. Also, no matter what level they're at, their loyalty is to the Constitution rather than a constituency. And while you can get pretty damn cynical (and justifiably so) about judges' motives sometimes, the fact that they try to adhere to relatively apolitical legal principles shows. Even super-conservatives like Scalia and Thomas have written decisions I whole-heartedly agree with.

So the judicial branch will continue to be slightly contrary when it feels the need, and when pushed it will push back, because that's just part of the natural give-and-take of American government. I honestly think we're getting past the worst of this time of Republican dominance, no matter how many apocalyptic scenarios PJ tosses around.

I WISH it were only my scenario. Unfortunately, it comes directly from Republican and Neoconservative thinkers and think-tanks.

Read Repuublican legal expert Mark Levin's bestseller "Men In Black: How the Supreme Court Is Destroying America"--it's a manifesto on how to dismantle the American court system by what the flap copy describes as "one of America’s preeminent conservative commentators and constitutional lawyers." He and many conservatives likes him believe the country would be better off if the courts were stripped of their powers.

Men In Black: How the Supreme Court Is Destroying America

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Updated On: 5/12/05 at 10:57 PM

PLum, it's very hard to be a human being in the sights of the right-wing Agenda gun and not be a little scared, so you'll excuse me if I say, "I'll believe the pendulum is shifting when I see it."
Sorry mixing a metaphor there.

Well, they clearly know how to focus their energies now...and their main focus now is the judiciary. They're smart. They push and push and push until the people show signs they disagree (like the Schiavo disaster) then they shift their focus really quickly.
And they help ease people into it with this new trend of lingo-izing everything. How many times do we have to hear "Activist judges" before we really start to believe these people are wild cards out there postulating on law haphazardly? At least, people with no real sense of our legal system will believe it.

Keep telling yourself that, Chicken Little. Exactly what does predicting doom accomplish except making people feel like they can't do anything about it? If the end is near, what can any of us do? You about as useful as one of those fun subway preachers who tells me I'm going to hell when all I really want is to go downtown.

I truly believe that 2006 and def 2008 will be a wake up call for them. I can't wait to see Karl Rove pissing his panties and crying into his breakfast.

They won a lot--and got way too big for their britches way too quickly.

The irony is that if they supported the arts more, they would know allllll about HUBRIS and what a nasty b!tch it can be!

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Be careful about letting some of us too near your end, Papa.

This will give the disgusting Bush administration another chance to start screaming about gay marriages instead of concentrating on the real problems of this country that they caused.