Reply #158: Believe it or not ...

[Laelth]

... all Justices on the Supreme Court get a little more liberal as they age. It's natural. There's only so much human misery that one can adjudicate before a judge is forced to back off of his or her once-cherished conservative illusions. Even Justice Scalia is starting to come around in regards to the erosion of the 4th amendment (our protection against unreasonable searches and seizures) and our Reagan-era mandatory sentencing guidelines (the ones packing our prisons with non-violent felons). He and Clarence Thomas have started voting with Ginsberg, Souter, and Bryer in a string of cases on these issues. In short, as nearly all Justices do, they are becoming more liberal, as even did Rehnquist in his later years.

For this reason, I'm sad to see Rehnquist go. Bush will give us another young, neo-nazi that we'll have to live with until that new Justice wakes up to reality (and this usually takes many years on the court).

But don't believe for a moment that Bush will nominate a moderate. And, please, let's not call for civil war. Calling for a bloodbath merely undermines our credibility.

-Laelth