Next stop, Gay Marriage

Posted on June 13, 2008 by David

The nomination of Justice Roberts to the Supreme Court is the only respectable exercise of executive power this millenium that comes to my mind this Friday morning. An unapologetic right-winger, perhaps, but an intelligent, thoughtful man who genuinely believes in upholding the rule of law.

I stood by him in the nomination process as my fringier friends argued that the Democrats should use the Katrina leverage to force Bush’s hand to the left. Roberts, I argued, may be alligned with the right, but he is no hack.

I may have to retract that statement after reading his dissent in yesterday’s opinion upholding the virtues of habeas corpus (NOTE: they are not saying that the terrorists can run free–they are saying that people detained for more than six years can insist that the government show there is a reason for their detention).

Justice Roberts non-sequitur:

So who has won? Not the detainees. . . . And certainly not the American people, who today lose a bit more control over the conduct of this Nation’s foreign policy to unelected, politically unaccountable judges.

Compare this to, say, the 2004 Republic Party Platform:

In the federal courts, scores of judges with activist backgrounds in the hard-left now have lifetime tenure. Recent events have made it clear that these judges threaten America’s dearest institutions and our very way of life. . . . We believe that the self-proclaimed supremacy of these judicial activists is antithetical to the democratic ideals on which our nation was founded.

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