[Liberal justices] Stevens is eighty-seven and Ginsburg seventy-four; [conservative justices] Roberts, Thomas, and Alito are in their fifties. The Court, no less than the Presidency, will be on the ballot next November, and a wise electorate will vote accordingly.-Legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin in the June 25 issue of the New Yorker.
Toobin lays it on the line. Presidents extend their legacies decades beyond their terms in office through the jurists they appoint to the federal bench. George W. Bush, by appointing John Roberts and Samuel Alito to the highest court in the land, has pretty much cemented his fascist-leaning style to the next decade (at the very least). And should a Republican president succeed Mr. Bush, it will only get worse.
The issue can't be stressed strongly enough: Judges are one of the most important issues voters should weigh when making their choices for president. Unfortunately not many do oustide of the religious-fascist-conservative wing of the Republican Party. And until Americans have the police knocking on their bedroom doors or barging into their doctors offices, I'm afraid our country's downward spiral into oblivion will continue.
