This morning, I woke up bright and early on the 4th of July to discuss the American Presidency, the Tea Party, and more with Mark Riley of WWRL in New York. Click on the link below to listen to my interview.
Supreme Court
149th Anniversary Of Battle Of Gettysburg: States Rights Battle Won Then Being Revisited Again!
On this day in 1863, the Union army defeated the Confederate army at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and prevented any further Confederate advancement into the Northern states of America, the decisive battle of the Civil War.
It was the turning point of the Civil War, and having visited the battle site, and heard stories of ghosts that still linger today, and recognizing the tremendous losses of both sides in the three day battle that was topsy turvey until the third day of the battle, one is humbled by the fact that it decided the issue of states rights, even though the war went on for nearly two more years.
It is ironic that the Republican Party under Abraham Lincoln fought against states rights, but now the Republican Party is more Southern than anything else, and has revived the issue of states rights in fury over the Affordable Care Act being declared constitutional by the Supreme Court last week.
So Southern governors, including Rick Scott, Bobby Jindal, Rick Perry, and Bob McDonnell, and joined by northern Republican governors, including Scott Walker, Rick Snyder, Paul LePage and others, are declaring “war” on setting up programs to deal with the oncoming “ObamaCare” in 2014, and in Congress, Republican leaders are making their campaign on repeal of “ObamaCare”, even though the chances of that are nearly zero.
So the GOP is fighting the Civil War all over again on another battlefield, against their own history, and they are doomed to lose yet once again!
And get this, Mitt Romney, the Republican Presidential nominee, is trying to veer away from “ObamaCare” as the major issue, causing a split within a party that has no love lost for him!
Good luck, Republicans, but you will face an historic defeat in November, while Abraham Lincoln weeps in heaven at what you have done to the party that fought states rights!
1937: “Four Horsemen Of The Apocalpse! 2012: “Three Horsemen Of The Apocalypse” On The Supreme Court!
In 1937, at the height of the New Deal of Franklin D. Roosevelt, four members of the United States Supreme Court resisted any part of the programs to deal with the Great Depression, and came to be known derisively as the “Four Men Of The Apocalpyse!.
These four Justices, seen as overly right wing conservatives were:
Willis Van Devanter (1911-1937)
James McReynolds (1914-1941)
Pierce Butler (1922-1938)
George Sutherland (1923-1939)
Today, 75 years later, it is clear that three Supreme Court Justices are united in their opposition to the agenda and programs of Barack Obama, as he tries to deal with many of the same economic problems that we had in the Great Depression.
These men are:
Antonin Scalia (1986-)
Clarence Thomas (1991-)
Samuel Alito (2006-)
It would seem appropriate to call them the “Three Horsemen of the Apocalypse”!
In 1937, we had two moderate centrists on the Court, Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes and Associate Justice Owen Roberts, while today we have somewhat equivalent conditions with Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice Anthony Kennedy!
Hopefully, Barack Obama will have much of the same fortune that FDR had, the ability in the second term to replace, in FDR’s case, three of the four “Horsemen of the Apocalypse” with replacement appointments with a more open minded, progressive attitude, which had a dramatic effect on the future of the nation!
Despite Health Care Ruling, Supreme Court Is Still Out Of Control, And Presidential Election Will Decide If It Regains Confidence Of The American People!
The Supreme Court came through by the barest of margins on the issue of “ObamaCare” last week, but when one looks at the Court’s radical swing to the right in so many other ways, it is clear that the future reputation of the Court and the long term future of the nation requires the victory of Barack Obama for a second term as President.
By confirming their Citizens United decision again in a case involving Montana state law, and by actions against labor unions and their rights in another case, and in the solidity most of the time of the Republican appointees in rejecting past precedent and tradition, the Court has gained an image of being extremist and confrontational, and lost American public opinion and respect, which is dangerous for our democracy.
Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, and George W. Bush effectively moved the Court away from the political center to the extreme right, and we are suffering the effects of this extremist rightward tilt.
We cannot afford to base the future on Anthony Kennedy SOMETIMES going with the liberal side of the Court, or Chief Justice John Roberts seemingly being concerned about the reputation of the Court. Neither is reliable to keep the Court in the political center, and protect the rights of the powerless.
The only answer is to insure that when the older members of the Supreme Court retire or die while in service on the Court, that we replace them with Justices who have a vision of the country more in line with the reality of the 21st century than the 19th century Gilded Age!
With Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Antonin Scalia, and Anthony Kennedy to be over 80 before the next Presidential term ends, the likelihood is that whoever is President in the next four years will have a transformative effect on the Supreme Court and constitutional law.
The thought of Mitt Romney making those choices is truly terrifying, and will make the Court a right wing extremist influence into the 2040s, totally unacceptable!
Barack Obama will be able to make the Court shift more into the mainstream, preserving the brilliant times of the Warren Court in the 1950s and 1960s, when America advanced constitutionally in so many ways!
A Century Of Struggle For Health Care: Theodore Roosevelt 1912 to Barack Obama 2012!
Republican President Theodore Roosevelt, out of office and running on the third party movement, the Progressive Party, in 1912, first proposed some form of national health exactly a century ago as part of his New Nationalism platform!
His distant cousin, Franklin D. Roosevelt, considered it as part of his New Deal in the 1930s, but it was controversial enough to promote Social Security, which was called “Socialism”, and bitterly opposed by most Republicans, and used as a campaign issue by Republican Governor Alf Landon in the 1936 Presidential campaign.
Harry Truman actually was the first to promote a program as part of his Fair Deal programs in the 1940s, but the Southern Democrats and the American Medical Association bitterly opposed it as “Socialism”, and it died in committees in the US House of Representatives and US Senate.
John F. Kennedy proposed what became Medicare for the elderly as part of his New Frontier, but it was blocked again by the AMA and the Southern Democrats who headed Congressional committees in both houses of Congress in the early 1960s.
Lyndon B. Johnson overcame the AMA and Southern Democrats, and accomplished Medicare in 1965, and the Republicans campaigned against it, but failed to gain enough support to repeal it
Richard Nixon had devised plans for more health care legislation, but Watergate killed any movement in that direction in the 1970s.
Jimmy Carter also had developed a plan for expansion, but faced too much conservative opposition and other issues and crises, which drew attention away from the idea.
Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton proposed a major government program, but it went down to defeat in 1994, with Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and the conservative Heritage Foundation proposing a “mandate” instead, which would allow private health insurance companies to profit from health care reform, but nothing was done.
And Senator Ted Kennedy fought the good fight for decades, and was at least able to see progress before his death in 2009.
And when Hillary Clinton, and then Barack Obama, adopted the Heritage Foundation plan in 2008, far less than the original Clinton plan of the 1990s, suddenly the Republican Party and conservative ideologists bitterly opposed it, as they still do, and their hope is to repeal the program declared constitutional by the Supreme Court this past Thursday.
So it has taken a century, and we are the ONLY major nation in the world which allows millions of people to be uncovered for health care, and we have the opposition bitterly trying to destroy it, including Republican Presidential nominee Mitt Romney, who actually promoted the SAME idea successfully in Massachusetts in 2006, but now is out to destroy “ObamaCare”!
What a history, and hard to believe that it would take a century, and still be a controversy in 2012!.
One Dark Part Of The Supreme Court Decision On “Obamacare”: Commerce Clause Limited For First Time Since New Deal, Thrilling Libertarians!
As one analyzes the Supreme Court decision on “ObamaCare” written by Chief Justice John Roberts, in the midst of the celebration, one has to pause and be concerned about Roberts’ assertion that the “commerce clause”, utilized regularly since the New Deal to permit expansion of federal power, was declared limited by a 5-4 vote of Roberts and all four Republican and conservative appointments on the Court—Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas, Anthony Kennedy, Samuel Alito–and vigorously opposed by the four Democratic and liberal appointments—Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan. Instead, Roberts said the law was constitutional based on the “mandate” being a tax.
LIbertarians are cheered by this aspect of the case, but it COULD effectively limit federal power, and restore states rights back to the pre 1930s view, which would indeed be tragic in so many ways!
So the battle over the future of government, and over what the Roberts majority opinion means for the long term, will be the subject of much discussion, debate, and cases over the coming years!
Disgraceful GOP Governors Will Fight Expansion Of Medicaid!
The Supreme Court decision backing “ObamaCare”, sadly allowed the states an “out” on expanding Medicaid coverage to the sick and needy who do not have health insurance coverage. In so doing, it allows Republican Governors to continue to resist giving any health care services to the poor, and will likely require federal intervention once the election is over, and hopefully, the chance to repeal “ObamaCare” is over, with Democratic gains and the victory of Barack Obama over Mitt Romney in the Presidential Election.
The despicable Governors include the usual ones–Southern governors, including Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, Rick Perry of Texas, Rick Scott of Florida, Bob McDonnell of Virginia, Nikki Haley of South Carolina among others; and other Republican Governors elsewhere, including Scott Walker of Wisconsin, Paul LePage of Maine, Rick Snyder of Michigan, and Sam Brownback of Kansas, among others.
These Governors have no conscience, and do not give a damn about protecting the health of their own less fortunate citizens. And yet, they are all concerned with preserving “life” when it refers to fetuses, but no concern once the fetuses are born!
What a disgrace beyond belief!
A Chicago Tribune “Dewey Defeats Truman” Moment: An Embarrassment to CNN, Fox News Channel And National Public Radio!
Electronic journalism did not have a great moment this past Thursday, when two cable channels, Fox News Channel and CNN, and National Public Radio as well, botched the first report of the Supreme Court decision on “ObamaCare”, declaring the plan had been declared unconstitutional!
It was a startling blunder, particularly for CNN and NPR, as Fox News Channel is infamous for distorting news on a regular basis!
A tremendous embarrassment it is, which will not give confidence to news junkies, while at the same time, MSNBC got it correct from the first moment, so let us salute MSNBC for its accuracy!
This whole situation reminds us of the Chicago Tribune headline in 1948, declaring GOP nominee Thomas E. Dewey the winner over President Harry Truman, leading to a photograph of Truman holding up the newspaper headline and beaming in victory, a priceless moment in American history!
Cordiality On The Supreme Court: Does It Exist After The Health Care Decision?
It has always been said that the members of the Supreme Court are always cordial and friendly, no matter their ideological differences.
But one wonders if that is so, after Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the majority opinion in the case involving “ObamaCare”, joining the four liberals on the Court.
We know that Antonin Scalia was uncomfortable as the decision was being issued, and was certainly furious and temperamental in his public utterances that Thursday morning!
It is hard to imagine that Scalia, Samuel Alito, and Clarence Thomas are NOT upset over the decision, and that it might very well affect personal relationships. This may not be something easily overcome, particularly when the usual swing vote, that of Justice Anthony Kennedy, was not there to support Roberts.
Roberts may be hoping, privately, that Scalia and Kennedy retire, as they really should soon, with their age being past 80 by the end of the next term.
On the other hand, Roberts and all of us will be burdened for many years by the relative youth of Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito!
This whole situation makes it more urgent than ever that Barack Obama replace retiring Justices, as well as circuit court judges, if there is to be any hope for a fair hearing in Supreme Court cases!
The “compassionate conservatism” of Chief Justice Roberts is far preferable to the narrow minded, biased, uncaring conservatism of Scalia, Thomas, Alito, and YES, even Anthony Kennedy, sorry to say!
What Might Have Been: Chief Justice Samuel Alito!
In Jully 2005, shortly after Associate Justice Sandra Day O’Connor announced her retirement, President George W. Bush announced John Roberts as his choice as her replacement on the Supreme Court.
The hearings were scheduled for early September, but two days before the hearings began, Chief Justice William Rehnquist died, and overnight, Bush decided to switch Roberts to be the appointee for Chief Justice, and later selected Samuel Alito to replace O’Connor!
The course of history was changed dramatically by this, ever more so now after Chief Justice Roberts authored the majority opinion on the Affordable Care Act, better known as ObamaCare!
Samuel Alito has proved to be a right wing extremist on the Supreme Court, joining with Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, and often called “Scalito” by critics. He also is the Justice who mouthed “not true” after the CItizens United Case decision, when President Obama, in the State of the Union speech a few days later, openly criticized that decision to the faces of the Supreme Court, while the other Justices, including Roberts, sat stone faced, which was the professional way to behave, but not for Alito!
The leader of the Court knows the Court is in his name, and that he must think of history, and Chief Justice Roberts knows that well, and has shown his statesmanship on this health care case, realizing no major decision of the Court since 1937 has repudiated a major social reform law passed by Congress.
Justice Alito is NOT a statesman, far from it, and rather is in many ways a disgrace–a narrow minded, hostile, nasty representative of the agenda of the Far Right, who if he had any ethics, would resign from the Court, but preceded by Scalia and Thomas, the two worst Justices of the past half century on the Court!