Supreme Court

Lesson for the day: Don't take political advice from liberal law professors.

That might seem like obvious advice, especially for those seeking office in "red states," but Senate Democrats seem not to have gotten the message. Now they are paying a huge price, as Samuel Alito moves toward confirmation -- and Democrats move toward marginalization. How all this happened was revealed in a recent New York Times article headlined, "Glum Democrats Can't See Halting Bush on Courts / Concede Strategy… more

"Judge Alito Must Not Be Confirmed." That's the headline atop the web site of People for the American Way.

"Oppose Alito," proclaims Americans United for the Separation of Church and State. And The New York Times editorial page worries, "Judge Alito's record appears extreme."

Yes, you read that right: The Times, the bastion of Manhattan ideology, which never met a social-engineering program it didn't like, is now delivering lectures to Americans on what should be considered centrist.

But a strange… more

The U.S. Senate will soon begin confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee John Roberts. With partisan groups on both sides gearing up for a fight, the process promises to be as contentious as past confirmations.

One can't help but wonder if we couldn't avoid much of the partisan mud wrestling about Supreme Court nominees if there were term limits on the high court. Perhaps more than any single factor, the "until death do we part" constitutional requirement has been responsible for bruising… more

Should U.S. Supreme Court justices serve life terms? This is a question that is raised whenever there is a vacancy on the Court. At 50 years of age, Judge John Roberts, President Bush's Supreme Court nominee, could serve for decades.

Perhaps more than any single factor, this "until death do we part" constitutional requirement has been responsible for bruising confirmation battles. On the partisan chessboard, nailing down one of nine Supreme Court spots is a major victory.

But a survey… more

Lining up to hear a Supreme Court Justice speak is more like lining up for a rock concert than you might think. This is especially true if the speech is on a college campus and the speaker in question is Justice Antonin Scalia. Ruth Bader Ginsburg is a favorite on the feminist lecture circuit; Clarence Thomas has vivid stories of growing up as a "nappy-headed little boy running barefoot" around Pinpoint, Georgia; Sandra Day O'Connor is the preferred Justice at… more

Two of our country's most cherished dreams are at risk. One is the American dream of upward mobility. The other is the romantic dream of settling the American heartland. These two dreams cannot be separated in the information age any more than they could be in the frontier past. Indeed, for many Americans in this century moving up may mean moving inland.

Today much of the Great Plains is undergoing a catastrophic demographic collapse. Stretching 1,600 miles from central Texas… more