How we were sold the Corporate Five

[jmowreader]

Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission was decided by the usual suspects: John Roberts, Samuel Alito, Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy and Clarence Thomas. Here I list the nominating statements for these five men:

John Roberts: Nominated by pResident George W. Bush to replace Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. After Chief Justice William Rehnquist died, Bush withdrew this nomination and re-entered him into consideration for the Chief Justice slot, believing correctly that filling the Chief Justice position was more important than filling an associate justice slot. About Judge Roberts, Bush said, "He has profound respect for the rule of law and for the liberties guaranteed to every citizen. He will strictly apply the Constitution in laws, not legislate from the bench."

Samuel Alito: Nominated by pResident George W. Bush after the whole country went apeshit because he tried to put his girlfriend Harriet Miers (aka "Michael Brown with eyeliner") on the Supreme Court. Alito was chosen largely because of a string of conservative rulings on issues such as abortion and federalism. Liberals referred to Alito's nomination as Bush bowing to the most extreme elements of his party, according to the Washington Post. (We still call him Scalito here.) Said Mr. Bush, "Federal judges have the duty to interpret the Constitution and the laws faithfully and fairly, to protect the constitutional rights of all Americans and to do these things with care and with restraint, always keeping in mind the limited role that the courts play in our constitutional system."

Antonin Scalia: Nominated by President Ronald Reagan. Reagan chose Scalia over Robert Bork because Bork smokes more than Scalia. True story. Scalia is considered the court's leading proponent of "textualism," which holds that a statute's ordinary meaning should govern its interpretation (in Scalia's 1997 Tanner Lecture, he said "it is the law that governs, not the intent of the lawgiver") and "originalism," which holds that the Constitution has a fixed and knowable meaning which was established at the time of its drafting.

Anthony Kennedy: Nominated by President Ronald Reagan, after his first two picks (Robert Bork and Douglas Ginsburg) were rejected by the Senate. This is what Reagan said of him: "Judge Kennedy is what many in recent weeks have referred to as a true conservative, one who believes that our constitutional system is one of enumerated powers, that it is we the people who have granted certain rights to the Government, not the other way around; and that unless the Constitution grants a power to the Federal Government, or restricts a state's exercise of that power, it remains with the states or the people. Those three words, "We the people," are an all-important reminder of the only legitimate source of the Government's authority over its citizens."

Clarence Thomas: Nominated by President George H.W. Bush. Bush claims to have nominated Thomas as he was the "best qualified nominee at this time," although it often seems that Thomas was selected because he was the only black man in America with a law degree and a New American* subscription. I can't find any indication that Thomas was nominated because he refused to "legislate from the bench." Rather, I think he was chosen because Bush knew he would.

So we have four people who were advertised as strict constructionists, plus one we weren't told much about past "he's qualified" (although the American Bar Association said he was only tentatively qualified to be on the Supreme Court), legislating from the bench.

* The John Birch Society publishes The New American.

[Demeter]

1. The Usual Suspects Bush and Reagan

It's enough to make one sick.

[glitch]

2. The Fascist Five seems more appropriate, and flows better.

Corporate is too mild for them, IMO.