Month: May 2010

The Effect Of New York City On The Supreme Court

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With the nomination of Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court, that august body will now have, upon confirmation of Kagan, four members who spent their early years and much of their life in New York City, and ironically, in different boroughs of the city!

Antonin Scalia spent his formative years in Queens County; Ruth Bader Ginsberg in Brooklyn; Sonia Sotomayor in the Bronx; and Elena Kagan in Manhattan!

Also, the liberal bloc on the Court will consist of the three women and Justice Stephen Breyer, and that will mean the three Jewish members of the Court, along with its first Hispanic or Latino member, will be seen by the hinterland as out of touch with America. But realize the long range historical effect of New York City and State on American history, and one can understand why the city and state have had such an impact!

There has long been a tendency to favor New York for Justices, including, among others, Benjamin Cardozo, Felix Frankfurter, Charles Evans Hughes, and John Jay.

So the New York and Northeastern influence on the Court is an interesting reality, particularly at a time when the Tea Party Movement seems to be striking out against modern America, which is primarily influenced by that center of culture and commerce!

After all, even the terrorists see New York City as the center of America in ways that cannot be matched anywhere else in the nation!

The Tea Party Movement, The Republicans, And The Supreme Court

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The Tea Party Movement is creating a true headache for the Republican party in regards to the nomination of Elena Kagan as a Supreme Court Justice by President Barack Obama.

Of course, it is well realized that a majority of Republicans in the Senate will vote against Kagan being confirmed. But many Republican senators are already admitting that Kagan is well qualified on paper. Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah and Senator Jon Kyl of Arizona made it clear that they did not see a filibuster beginning, and that while they may have problems with Kagan in some way, they do not intend to let the Tea Party activists control the party’s strategy about the nominee.

But the Tea Party is just demonstrating how extremely radical right wing they are, as they have made up their mind to defeat Kagan because Obama selected him!

They want a Supreme Court that could just as well be made up of robots who do not use their mind, but simply promote a view of the Constitution that does not allow for anything other than the exact words of the document. Empathy, life experiences, and judicial activism are not to be part of the process. Any assertion of federal government authority is to be denied. Checks and balances and separation of powers are to be obeyed, without explaining how to interpret that. No consideration of foreign law is to be allowed under any circumstances in deliberation of cases.

This view of the Supreme Court would paralyze the Court’s ability to do its job! To promote in the 21st century the concept that the federal government has no authority other than what was perceived in the 18th century, and to assert states rights, when that was settled by the Civil War 150 years ago, is pure insanity! To assert also that no new rights to protect those who have been discriminated against historically should be allowed, and by implication, the thought that blacks, women, and other minorities should never have gained the equality which the Supreme Court has had a major role in promoting, makes one shake his head at the loony nature of this backwards, reactionary movement!

It is becoming very obvious that the Republican Party has an albatross around its neck: The Tea Party Movement! The leadership of the GOP need to make up their mind! Are they to be a mainstream party that represents the broad base of the American population, or are they to go down as an extreme reactionary, right wing group that has no possibility of having power and dealing with real problems in the 21st century? 🙁

Laura Bush And Abortion And Gay Marriage

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Former First Lady Laura Bush has written a memoir of her life and years in the White House, and was interviewed this evening on Larry King Live on CNN.

It was a very revealing and fascinating hour, and it was somewhat surprising that Laura Bush revealed that she was in favor of gay marriage being explored, and believed that abortion rights should not be reversed by the Supreme Court!

This is a stand revealed publicly now, after her husband took the exact opposite stand as President.

But it is interesting that Barbara Bush and Nancy Reagan also revealed publicly after their husbands left the Presidency that they both were pro choice on abortion.

So it seems clear that the women have a more open minded attitude on change and reform than their husbands, who apparently feel the need to toe the Republican “party line” and promote an anti abortion and anti gay rights and marriage agenda!

The Tea Party Movement, Republican Party, And Conservative Lie About Taxes!

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The biggest issue that the Tea Party Movement, the Republican Party, and conservative talk radio and Fox News Channel have been propagandizing since Barack Obama became President is that taxes are out of control and are higher than they have ever been under this administration!

But USA TODAY published this morning an article that proves this propaganda to be totally wrong. The fact is that our taxes this past year were lower than at any time since 1950, when Harry Truman was President!

The figure is 9 percent for 2009, while the normal level is 12 percent. This includes ALL federal, state and local taxes, not only for income, but also for property, sales and other taxes!

Of course, the problem is not high taxes, but high government spending, which with high defense spending, and the burden of social security, medicare, and medicaid growing constantly, means that ultimately, taxes will have to rise dramatically, because the high national debt is due to the fact that the government has pursued the policy of doing what is popular, cutting taxes, but that just means the taxes are “kicked down the road”, as there is no way to avoid payment of debt in the future! Of course, the cost of paying debt grows by borrowing money rather than raising taxes as we need it!

So the politicians look to gain votes by promising lower taxes, but it is actually a lie, as taxes MUST go up later, if not earlier! The celebration over lower taxes has to be recognized for what is reality: Higher taxes are coming and are necessary, so get used to it!

Supreme Court Justices And Judicial Experience: Is It Required Or Preferred?

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As Elena Kagan was nominated for the Supreme Court by President Obama yesterday, the debate began over the importance of a Supreme Court nominee having served as a judge before coming to the Court.

Every member of the present Supreme Court has been a Court of Appeals Judge, and one would think this was normal tradition and a requirement, neither of which thought is true in fact!

When one examines the history of the 111 Supreme Court Justices we have had to this moment, we discover a very different truth. Only 48 served as judges on the national or state levels. Three were Governors of their states (Earl Warren, Charles Evans Hughes, William Paterson). Seven have been Senators, including Hugo Black and Edward White. Seven have been Attorney General under a President. We have also seen other cabinet members–Secretary of State, Secretary of the Treasury, Secretary of the Interior, Secretary of Labor, Secretary pf the Navy, and even Postmaster General, chosen for the Supreme Court. Additionally, we have had a number of Solicitor Generals (the position Kagan holds), and Law School professors selected. But also interesting is many who are simply described as “Lawyers”!

The point is that many of the very best Supreme Court Justices have NOT been judges before coming to the high bench. This list includes John Marshall (Secretary of State), Joseph Story (Speaker of the Massachusetts House), Roger Taney (Lawyer), Edward White (Senator), Charles Evans Hughes (Governor), Louis Brandeis (Lawyer), William Howard Taft (President and Law School Professor), Harlan Fiske Stone (Attorney General), Hugo Black (Senator), William O. Douglas (SEC Chairman), Felix Frankfurter (Law School Professor), Frank Murphy (Attorney General), Robert H. Jackson (Attorney General), Tom Clark (Attorney General), Earl Warren (Governor), Arthur Goldberg (Secretary of Labor), and Thurgood Marshall (Solicitor General)!

When one analyzes this list, it is clear that it is not required or necessary that a Supreme Court nominee have had experience as a judge at any level. Worldly experience in other types of positions is important to promote diversity on the Court, beyond the issues of race, religion and gender!

Senator John Cornyn’s Complaint About Supreme Court Nominees

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Republican Senator John Cornyn of Texas had a complaint today about the Supreme Court after the announcement of the nomination of Elena Kagan to replace John Paul Stevens on the high Court.

His complaint is that her background, and basically that of most Supreme Court nominees for a long time, has been one of having connections to Cambridge (Harvard University), Hyde Park (University of Chicago), and Washington, DC!

Actually, it should be said, to be technically correct, that some of the Supreme Court Justices come from New Haven (Yale University), and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg from NYC (Columbia University)! Also, a good number have had their life experiences affected by New York or California residence.

And so, the thought is, is this a problem? NO, as the facts are that our leading legal scholars and brilliant judicial minds come from the Boston-NYC-Washington DC megalopolis, as well as from Chicago and California! These ARE the leading academic and intellectual centers in the nation, whether people from the hinterland and the South want to accept it!

Do we really want people on the Supreme Court who come from second level law schools? Do we want “mediocre” members in their education and experiences involved in interpreting our Constitution?

Senator Cornyn sounds too much like former Republican Senator Roman Hruska of Nebraska, who tried to defend Florida judge G. Harold Carswell, appointed by President Richard Nixon to the Supreme Court. Carswell proved to be by far the most mediocre and incompetent Justice nominee in many years, and was defeated in the Senate, but not before Hruska admitted Carswell was mediocre, but declared that were not “mediocre” citizens entitled to representation on the Supreme Court? The answer is obviously NO!

We cannot afford anything other than the best of our country on the Supreme Court, and it is time to recognize where our intellectual and academic best are found in this nation! No one should feel cheated by us gaining the highest quality nominees, even if they are primarily from three locations geographically! We deserve nothing but the best!

Elena Kagan Inherits The Court Seat Of Brandeis, Douglas, And Stevens!

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Solicitor General Elena Kagan, President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee, inherits a Court seat possibly the most significant single seat in the Court’s history!

In the past 94 years, the seat she takes over has had exactly THREE people in it, with all three being giants in the Court’s history!

From 1916 to 1939, Louis Brandeis, an appointee of Woodrow Wilson, served on the Court. The first Jewish Justice, and arguably the second greatest Justice in the Court’s history (after Chief Justice John Marshall), Brandeis promoted the concept of Sociological Jurisprudence in the legal system, which has had a dramatic effect on the whole history of the Court long after his time on that body ended!

Brandeis was succeeded by William O. Douglas, appointed by Franklin D. Roosevelt, and served from 1939-1975. As the longest serving Supreme Court Justice ever, 36 and a half years, Douglas promoted the Brandeis liberal view of the Court, and is usually considered among the top ten Supreme Court Justices of all time!

John Paul Stevens succeeded Douglas in 1975, appointed by Gerald Ford, and will leave the Court this summer as the second oldest Justice ever (only surpassed by Oliver Wendell Holmes), and also the second longest serving Justice (only behind Douglas by about two years service). He will certainly be ranked historically as one of the 25 greatest Justices in the Court’s history!

So Elena Kagan takes on a major responsibility, to fill the shoes of three judicial giants, who have together had a overwhelming impact on Supreme Court history! May we wish her the best as she pursues fulfilling an imposing challenge!

The Key Moment In Obama’s Presidency May Be Right Now!

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President Obama has faced many complex issues in his first 16 months in office, but ironically, it could be the twin crises now facing him that determine the long range view of his Presidency!

These crises are the British Petroleum oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and the failed Times Square terrorist bombing attempt in New York City.

How these two crises work out will be seen as a crossroads in history, as the issue of the danger to our economy and environment represented by the catastrophic oil spill, and the growing threat of internal terrorism by people who reside in the United States hits upon the major insecurities and anxieties that most Americans have!

If we do not have economic stability, protection of the environment, and safety and security on an every day basis, what else really matters to most Americans?

This is not a partisan or political issue alone! It is the crux of what all Americans have on their minds on a daily basis, as what we used to be able to take for granted is no longer guaranteed!

Any President is faced with circumstances he has no control over, but the way he reacts to these situations could lower his public opinion ratings dramatically and sometimes permanently, and can mark his Presidency in history for all time as a success or a failure!

The Changing Supreme Court: The Nomination Of Solicitor General Elena Kagan

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With the announcement of Solicitor General Elena Kagan as the newest member of the Supreme Court, we will be learning a lot about this second appointment to the high Court by President Obama.

What sticks out right at the beginning is the following:

1. Kagan will be the third woman on the Supreme Court, the highest number ever! The others are Ruth Bader Ginsberg and Sonia Sotomayor.
2. Kagan will be the third Jewish Justice, the highest number ever! The others are Ruth Bader Ginsberg and Stephen Breyer.
3. Kagan will be the youngest member of the Court, and being only 50, could serve for thirty or more years.
4. Kagan’s appointment is the first since William Rehnquist, appointed by Richard Nixon, to have no judicial experience at all, although eight of the nine members of the Court at the time of the Brown V. Board of Education case of 1954 had never been judges. This could be the beginning of a trend toward picking Justices who have a wider experience than just being on the bench.
5. This appointment continues the trend toward having Supreme Court Justices who have been graduates of Harvard or Yale University Law Schools, with Ruth Bader Ginsberg being the only exception, as a graduate of Columbia University Law School.
6. This marks the first time in history that not even one Protestant Justice will sit on the Court, which now will have six Catholics and three Jews on the Court, along with two Italians, one African American, and one Latino. Overall, this is a very diverse Court, but who could have imagined fifty years ago that a Court which was noted for having an Irish Catholic Justice (William Brennan) as an unusual event, would now be consisting of groups that be called “minorities”!

There will be more commentary on this historic event as weeks go by, as this will be a headline story for at least the next two months!

Obama, American Jews, And Israel: Changing Dynamics!

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One of the most controversial areas of the foreign policy of President Obama is the relationship with America’s traditional ally, Israel.

Obama’s decision to openly criticize Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government in March for approving the construction of new Jewish settlements in East Jerusalem, an area that Palestinians hope will be the location of their future government capital, outraged the general Israeli public, and leading American Jewish groups, including the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), and the World Jewish Congress. It also greatly upset Elie Wiesel, the Holocaust survivor and Nobel Laureate who this week had a luncheon at the White House, as President Obama attempted to repair damage done by his strong stand against Israeli interests.

While Wiesel said he had been reassured, the major Jewish organizations remain opposed, and there is great suspicion among a majority of Israelis toward Obama Administration policy.

The fact that Obama used Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to deliver his message of opposition to the new settlements, along with his snub of Netanyahu when he visited Washington last month, and the resulting refusal of the Israeli Prime Minister to show up at the recent Nuclear summit that 47 nations attended, only added to the crisis atmosphere.

This led administration officials to speak before the Anti Defamation League National Leadership Conference this week to try to restore good relations, and convinced Obama to communicate with Netanyahu over the phone on the issue.

Many observers think Obama can only mend fences by a direct trip to Israel and promoting a so called “charm offensive”. But that is unlikely to work, because this issue of the settlements in East Jerusalem is very emotional and personal to most Israelis and many American Jewish groups.

But at the same time, it is a fact that a breach has developed between major American Jewish organizations and many American Jews, who do not like what they see as the overwhelming power and influence of traditional Jewish organizations who tend to support Israel with undivided loyalty.

Many Jews in America are pro Israel, but don’t feel the need to support every viewpoint and policy of the Israeli government, particularly a right wing one as headed by a hard liner such as Netanyahu.

So it is not at all surprising that younger Jews, and those without political and pressure group connections, are more critical of Israel and its policies on Middle East peace. 78 percent of Jews voted for Obama, and many agree with his domestic initiatives. A new poll suggests that 55 percent support his policies on Israel, a totally different perspective than that coming from the traditional Jewish leadership.

The real issue seems to be that most American Jews are liberal leaning and secular, while the Israeli government is now controlled by right wing nationalists and ultra religious elements that many American Jews do not approve of.

The long range concern is that the chasm developing between many American Jews and the Israeli policies will continue, and that loyalty and emotional commitment between Jews and Israelis will decline over the next few generations. Many Jews intermarrying only adds to the long range crisis.

The ability of the Obama Administration to bridge the gap between Israel and the United States is under great scrutiny, and there is no way to tell now whether the old relationship has been changed forever, to the detriment of both nations and to the American Jewish community itself!