Comments on: The next step in judicial conservatism…

By: cartographer

cartographer — Thu, 08 Jun 2006 00:13:04 +0000

So here’s the scenario: the Alabama court makes a decision disregarding U.S. Supreme Court precedent; the U.S. Supreme Court summarily reverses that decision, on grounds of selfsame precedent. Now what? Ignoring precedent of a higher court is one thing, defying its orders is something else. Does anyone think these Alabama jokers would have the courage to do that? At the crunch they would back down, they know it, and therefore they will never press it to that point. They won’t in fact disregard U.S. Supreme Court rulings, no matter what they tell the voters. This is phony defiance, like George Wallace standing for ten seconds in the schoolhouse door. It’s an Alabama tradition!

By: Sean Aqui

Sean Aqui — Fri, 02 Jun 2006 15:52:35 +0000

Agreed: clearly there are Supreme Court rulings that are badly founded — though we’ll all disagree on which ones they are. But, good or bad, they’re the law until the Supreme Court itself overturns them. Otherwise we risk legal anarchy.

By: Pooh

Pooh — Fri, 02 Jun 2006 06:40:23 +0000

Brian, I’ll point out that it’s easy to support the rule of law when the rulings favor your policy preferences – so I commend you for recognizing the legitimacy of rulings which you find disagreeable.

By: Brian in MA

Brian in MA — Fri, 02 Jun 2006 04:20:29 +0000

Well, this is lunacy.

But it does not approach the lunacy of the 9th circuit court (the people who brought you Newdow’s attempted pledge banning, and the one that said parents have no right to decide what their children are exposed to in public schools.), the most overturned court in the history of the US court system.

Are some supreme court rulings ridiculous? Yes. I’m thinking of one in particular that is still justified by a 1973 understanding of medicine and a 7th century understanding of inalienable rights. However, for the sake of consistency in the court system, the states have to obey federal rulings where applicable.

By: amba

amba — Fri, 02 Jun 2006 01:48:31 +0000

Maybe Alabama will secede.

By: Sean Aqui

Sean Aqui — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 22:13:29 +0000

I almost hope he gets elected just so we can all enjoy the spectacle. It’d be the first time in decades that federal troops were called in to enforce Supreme Court rulings.

By: Bob J Young

Bob J Young — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 20:57:09 +0000

He’s not just saying that just because he believes it. He is saying it because the majority of people in the state believe it. In Alabama, evangelism overrides the constitution and the “civil war” is call “the war of northern aggression”. Boy do I hate living here. On the other hand taxes are really low.