The noticeable drift to the right in politics has a not-as-noticeable twin, a drift to the right in the federal judiciary, "the courts".The replacement for Justice Stevens, Kagan, is another move to the right, which legal scholars take note of, as do practitioners before the court.
It is just a matter of how far to the "right".
Yesterday a federal judge in the states where Deepwater Horizon oil is washing up on the beaches, stopped the moratorium on deep water oil drilling.
Over half of the federal judges in those gulf states have strong ties to big oil, as do members of congress, according to the links above.
Clearly then, when we mention that "we are addicted to oil", it does not mean only those who drive vehicles that burn fossil fuel.
It means that our entire political, governmental, judicial, and economic system is so addicted that there seems to be no way out psychologically, even though there may be ways out physically and scientifically.
I thought this is what everyone wanted when so many states decided to elect judges by popular vote.
ReplyDeleteDavid,
ReplyDeleteI changed the post to "federal judges" instead of "judges".
Probably 3/4 of state judges have the same problem.
Thus, your point is well taken.
Our system is failing because we are overloaded with propaganda which is generating social dementia.
"A judge is a law student who marks his own examination papers."
ReplyDelete-H.L. Mencken