Thurgood Marshall

An Amazing Alliance: David Boies And Ted Olson!

Ronald Leave a comment

The California District Court case today, declaring Proposition 8 unconstitutional, was won because of the strong arguments of an amazing alliance of two leading attorneys–David Boies and Ted Olson!

David Boies is a liberal Democrat and Ted Olson is a conservative Republican, who opposed each other in the Supreme Court case of Bush V. Gore, which led to the Court declaring the vote count in Florida over, and awarding the state’s electoral votes to George W. Bush over Al Gore in the 2000 Presidential Election!

But the two men now have joined together in an impressive alliance, based on the idea that gays have the same rights as other citizens, and that prejudice and discrimination cannot be allowed to deny basic civil liberties and human rights, including the right to marry!

Olson was Solicitor General under President George W. Bush, and therefore has argued cases before the Court other than the Bush V. Gore case! Boies also has a very impressive record in court on numerous cases, so this is an alliance of power!

Hopefully, the two men will go down as the equivalent of Thurgood Marshall was in the Brown V. Board of Education case in 1954!

The battle must still be fought through the higher courts, but with such stalwart figures behind the gay marriage case, hopefully the moral and right thing will win out, and justice will be served! 🙂

Elena Kagan Versus Republican Senators: A Superb Performance! :)

Ronald Leave a comment

Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan put on a superb performance in her appearance this week before the Senate Judiciary Committee! 🙂

Kagan displayed great intelligence and knowledge about the courts and the law, and was excellent in the use of humor and sarcasm, making her one of the more interesting nominees to appear before the Judiciary Committee in recent years! 🙂

She made some of the Republicans look mediocre in their pettiness and criticisms, and did not back off from her effusive praise of her mentor, Associate Justice Thurgood Marshall, for whom she worked as a clerk for a few years on the Supreme Court!

The attacks on Marshall’s view of the Constitution demeaned NOT Marshall, but those Republicans who attacked his judicial record!

Kagan came across as clearly a liberal in her background and experiences, and will be an excellent addition to the Court!

Her differing experiences, including NOT being a judge, will create some diversity on the Court that is much needed!

It seems clear that she will easily be confirmed, and that she may get more GOP votes than originally expected! 🙂

So, Solicitor General Kagan, soon you will be Associate Justice Kagan! 🙂 Congratulations! 🙂

Republican Senators Attack Thurgood Marshall’s Judicial Philosophy! :(

Ronald 2 Comments

Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan has handled herself well today, her first full day of testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee!

But it is obvious that Republican Senators are out to condemn the judicial philosophy and reputation of the first African American to serve on the Court, Thurgood Marshall, appointed by Lyndon B. Johnson in 1967, and serving until his retirement in 1991! 🙁

Kagan served as a law clerk under Marshall, and reveres him in an appropriate way! But, of course, conservatives hate him, as he was the lawyer in the Brown V. Board of Education case in 1954, and was an unabashed liberal on the Supreme Court! His goal was to care about the average American, not just the rich and powerful, which unfortunately is who the Republicans care about when it comes to the law! 🙁

To Republicans, “activist” conservatives such as the four on the Court now, are just fine and, of course, are NOT “activist”! 🙁

But god forbid to have “activist” liberals such as Marshall, or William Brennan, or Earl Warren, or Harry Blackmun, or Louis Brandeis on the Court, because they might actually shape the Court to do what is best for the people, rather than the corporations that this conservative Court so adores! 🙁

As the New Republic declared today, the Supreme Court desperately needs a Louis Brandeis to shape the future of constitutional law!

The question is whether Elena Kagan has the potential to do that, and how the future of the Court might be affected by an activist in the mold of Thurgood Marshall or Louis Brandeis! It seems possible that she could, indeed, fill that role! But of course, there is no way to forecast the future, but we can hope for the best!