It was only a matter of time
South Dakota, yes South Dakota of all places was in the news today. The state most commonly known for Mount Rushmore, former Democratic Nominee for President George McGovern, and former Senate Majority and Minority Leader Tom Daschle (whatever happened to him??) passed a bill that banned almost all forms of abortion.
I had this discussion with a fellow blogger last week and we thought this would happen eventually, but not this week. We also predicted a state in the Deep South would pass a similar bill. We all know how divided the abortion issue is, so we won't even begin to argue that. However, this must be viewed in the grand scheme of politics.
With Justice John Paul Stevens getting up there in age and the possiblity he may retire in the next three years, that would give President Bush another nomination to the Supreme Court. Likely, this bill will take several years before the Supreme Court will hear the case. By the time (if) Justice Stevens retires, Bush will have put another conservative pro-life vote on the Court. That would likely mean the end of Roe as we know it and the states would have the say on the abortion matter. Interesting move on more than one front today. It will only be a matter of time before we know how this issue plays out.
posted by AmericanExceptionalism @ 7:39 PM
3 comments
3 Comments:
wha
what if a dem wins in 2008 as is most likely. then regardless of who bush nominates in the next 2 years, should stevens retire, the dems in congress just filibuster it, and have the new democratic prez withdraw that nomination (need to see the constitutionality of that) and then whammo, get a liberal (much needed) justice on the bench. strike down the anti-choice laws and bring some sanity back to the law.
If the Democrats filibuster any Supreme Court nominee, I don't foresee too many possibilities that would put a Democrat in the White House in 2008. As we learned last summer with the "Gang of 14" the American center doesn't like to be jacked around with filibuster threats over SCOTUS nominees. In all reality, there is very little chance that a Democrat would win if the Republicans put up the right nominee. Considering that the Democrats are going to nominate Hillary (unless Senator Obama runs which I think will happen since he keeps talking about religion, who would be exposed in a general election as having style but no substance), the Democrats have a very small chance of taking the White House. Now, the House might go to the Democrats in '06, but the Senate will remain Republican controlled and they are the ones that confirm the nominees. I don't know what early polling you are looking at, but the respected ones show no Democrats winning a general election against viable Republican candiates.
We don't need any more liberals on the bench. What America needs is the smartest legal scholars on the bench that best fit the ideals of America. It is a shame that judicial nominations have turned into a partisan affair.
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