Maybe the rightward surge of the courts by the current administration won't be as bad as we fear -- an observation by the Washington Post:
The GOP traded its principles for conservative judges. It was a bad deal.
[washingtonpost.com]
From the link:
...Trump clinched his 200th judicial confirmation faster than any president since Jimmy Carter. Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) tried to spike the ball when he said the milestone marked “a sea change, a generational change on the federal bench,” and that “Republicans are stemming this liberal judicial tide that we’ve lived with in the past.”
...
Of Trump’s 200 judges, 198 are on lower courts: 143 district-level judges, two international trade judges and 53 appellate-level judges. Another 44 lower-court nominees are in the pipeline, though there’s no guarantee all will get confirmed. But for the sake of comparisons, let’s assume Trump tally ends up at 242 lower-court judges.
Such a tally would not give Trump’s judges dominance in the federal judiciary, as there are 851 Article III lower-court seats in all. Topping out at 242 seats would give Trump less than 28 percent of the lower-court judiciary (presently he’s at 23 percent). That may be impressive for a single term, but if a single term is all Trump gets, he will nevertheless be outdone on judicial confirmations by his most immediate predecessors: Barack Obama got 327 lower-court judges, George W. Bush 326 and Bill Clinton 376.
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Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.The conservative principle is that laws are to be made by the people through their elected representatives in Congress. The role of the judiciary is to interpret those laws.
In the case of abortion, a woman’s right to control her body is a basic human right protected by the constitution. Protecting individual rights is is the most hallowed of conservative principles.
WilliamFleming
Level 8
June 30, 2020
1
That's NOT why Roberts 'swing' vote made the majority. He actually dissented in the 2016 decision.
@FearlessFly Where there are conflicting laws and opinions things have to be thrashed out. All I’m saying is that Basic conservative principles have not been violated by this decision.
@WilliamFleming The FOUR conservative dissenters don't agree.
Do you have link(s) to conservatives (libertarians are different) who are agreeing with that POV (and 'hailing' the decision) ?
@FearlessFly We get into the area of semantics. Libertarians do have conservative values.
@WilliamFleming
Where are your sources, are they all libertarian ?
Are you obfuscating the issue by referring to them as conservatives ?
I think we need to get away from saying that person a IS A CONSERVATIVE, and that therefore they have certain opinions about certain issues. Different people have all sorts of opinions. We are all liberal and conservative
Your sources don't begin to hail the decision as validating "Protecting individual rights" as the "most hallowed of conservative principles"
If those values are so important (as you say), where are the HEADLINES about this decision ?
@FearlessFly Different individual rights are important to different people, and there is wide disagreement about what those rights are. I’ve provided you with ample sources. You don’t need headlines to know that huge numbers of Republicans are happy with the decision.
I didn’t say anything except that the protection of human rights is a conservative value, contrary to your quote above from the Washington Post. I wish we could stop thinking in these divisive, absolute ways.
@WilliamFleming Abortion NOT divisive ? Not on this blue-sky planet, that is nothing more than a fantasy. 
John Roberts has risen to the position as Chief Justice. Neil Gorsuch might be willing to reason as well. Alito, Kavanaugh and Thomas are hopeless.and they're on the court for life.
barjoe
Level 9
June 30, 2020
2
@barjoe
True. But as @FearlessFly noted below, the majority(RCC: read 'all initially' ) of the decisions are made in the lower courts.
This is another element of the importance of this fall's elections.
SCOTUS hears very few cases (albeit major ones).
"Lower courts" is where most of the decisions are made.
FearlessFly
Level 9
June 30, 2020
1
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