Published: June 24, 2009 12:35 pm      

WE THE PEOPLE: May it please the court

By Clyde Ussery

Chronicle contributor



Republicans have gotten the word that they are not running the candy store anymore, and they are not accepting it gracefully. Their attacks on Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor show a woeful lack of finesse. An anonymous "Republican source" is quoted as saying that the GOP doesn't have much power these days, but opposing a left-wing nominee like Sotomayor is "our path back to the majority." No doubt calling her ignorant and attacking her as a racist has Hispanics flocking to the GOP tent already.

If ignorant racist doesn't do the trick there is always the old "activist judge" ploy. Of course conservatives don't really want to get rid of activists judges, they just want to get rid of judges who disagree with them. The Roberts Court is a perfect example of an activist court. There are four extremely conservative justices (Roberts, Alito, Thomas and Scalia) on a crusade to remake the country in their own narrow-minded image by running roughshod over decades of precedents. According to polls they are far to the right of the average American.

These conservatives justices claim to follow a strict-constructionist philosophy wherever it leads, even if it leads to results with which they disagree. Funny how often it leads them just where they already wanted to go. The truth is they have twisted the Constitution like a pretzel, Bush v. Gore being the classic example.

For over 200 years the Constitution has been interpreted by white men for the interests of white men. Of the 110 Supreme Court justices to date, 106 have been white males, 107 if you include Clarence Thomas. Women make up 51 percent of our nation's population, yet just one out of nine Supreme Court justices is a woman. Because the Court often issues subjective decisions that affect women differently than men, female empathy can make every difference in the world.

The recent Redding case is a perfect example of why the Court desperately needs other female justices. A 13-year-old girl was strip-searched at school because she was falsely accused of possessing Ibuprofen. Justice Ginsberg was the only member of the Court who seemed to understand the trauma of a young girl baselessly stripped of her privacy in a highly invasive and public manner on school grounds.

U.S. Supreme Court justices are extremely powerful in shaping American society. One of the most important decisions a president will make during his tenure is his selection of a justice to the Court, a decision which will allow him to extend his influence for years after he leaves office. Appointed for life, justices are never in a great hurry to retire, and they live approximately forever.

Judge Sotomayor is obviously an extremely intelligent woman with an impressive body of work. She has more experience on the bench than any Court nominee in a hundred years. I think the president made a wise choice, and I hope his next nominee for the Court will be another woman. We need a Court that is more representative of all Americans. It is time to move beyond tokenism.

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This column represents alternative thoughts to other published columns in the Crossville Chronicle. "We the People" is published each Wednesday. Opinions expressed in "We the People" columns are not necessarily those of the Crossville Chronicle publisher, editor or staff. For more information, contact John Wund, editor, at jwund@frontiernet.net.