Supreme Politics
The Editors : Presidential Election 2008
The Supreme Court's final rulings remind us that civil rights and a sane vision of the Constitution rest with the next President's judicial appointments.
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A Blow Against Gitmo
David Cole : Guantanamo Bay
By a single vote, the Supreme Court stood up to an Administration that has declared war on the rule of law.
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Supreme Court Deals Death Blow to Gitmo
Jonathan Hafetz : Guantanamo Bay
The Supreme Court delivers a dramatic blow to the President's lawless detention policies, overturns an effort by the previous Congress to eliminate the right of habeas corpus and sounds the death knell for Guantánamo Bay prison.
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Protecting the Rights of Millionaires
Laura MacCleery : Electoral Reform
By equating money with free speech, is the Supreme Court defending the right of the rich to steal elections?
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The Voter ID Fraud
Garrett Epps : The Courts
The conservatives ensconced on the Supreme Court are set to uphold draconian ID requirements on voters that will redefine electoral politics in America.
2007
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Judging Thomas
Jon Wiener : Racism & Discrimination
A close look at Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas reveals a deeply conservative and increasingly bitter man.
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The Protect Alberto Gonzales Act of 2007
Patricia J. Williams : Privacy Rights
Congress bows to Bush and passes a law that allows blanket data-mining of all phone calls or e-mail by anyone, anywhere.
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Mourning in America
Patricia J. Williams : Youth, Education, & Children
As the Supreme Court rules public schools cannot take voluntary action to overcome racial inequality, what's surprising is the lack of outcry.
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Racists & Robber Barons
David L. Kirp : Racism & Discrimination
Rather than build a unified culture in a diverse society, the conservative Gang of Five that now dominates the Supreme Court is polarizing the country.
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What We Owe the Working Poor
Annette Bernhardt : Wages & Hours
The Supreme Court's recent decision to deny home-care workers the right to overtime pay is speeding a race to the bottom that will affect every working person.
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Supremely Bad Decisions
With gleeful judicial activism, the Roberts Court swings right and sides with the interests of power.
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Divining Demeanor
Patricia J. Williams : Death Penalty
The latest Supreme Court ruling on the death penalty will give prosecutors huge latitude to pick jurors who enthusiastically embrace capital punishment.
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Tough Luck, Ladies
The Roberts Court rules that six months into being screwed by your boss, pay discrimination is your own damn fault.
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Jackal Time
Will the Supreme Court declare banks immune from liability for their role in the Enron debacle?
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Misjudging Women
Jessica Arons : Reproductive Rights
In Gonzalez v. Carhart, Justice Anthony Kennedy has utterly changed the course of abortion jurisprudence.
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Invisible America
Patricia J. Williams : Racism & Discrimination
Fifty-three years after Brown v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court will rule on two cases that will decide the future of school integration.
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Regrets Only
Katha Pollitt : Reproductive Rights
The Supreme Court's recent antichoice decision shows how deeply disinformation has seeped into the abortion debate.
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Curbing Abortion Rights
Karen Houppert : Reproductive Rights
Newcomer Supreme Court Justices John Roberts and Samuel Alito showed their true stripes by supporting a landmark late-term abortion ban.
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Gitmo Justice
David Hicks pleads guilty and goes free, while the Supreme Court denies nearly 400 other terror suspects their day in court. This is justice?
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Guantánamo, Dred Scott and the Amistad
Jeremy Brecher & Brendan Smith : History
The US Supreme Court should look back on its most regrettable and most courageous decisions.
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'There Is No Law'
It's now up to the Supreme Court or the Democratic Congress to overturn the Military Commissions Act and restore our right to habeas corpus.
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A Pillar of American Justice
The legal philosophy of Louis Brandeis illuminates some of the compelling legal issues of our own times.
2006
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Legal Legacy
Four new books explore the impact of Bush appointees on the newly politicized Supreme Court and the power they wield over our public and private lives.
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No Blank Checks on Torture
As the fight against the Administration's policies on torture and the terror detainees shifts to the Supreme Court, there is reason to be confident that the Justices will again rein in Bush's power grab.
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Hamdan v. Rumsfeld: Guidepost or Relic?
Aziz Huq : George W. Bush Administration
As the Bush Administration continues to exercise an inordinate amount of power, will the Supreme Court's Hamdan v. Rumsfeld ruling become a guidepost for future government or a last lonely relic of a proud lost era?
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The 'Kennedy Court'
By casting the decisive vote in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld and other contentious disputes, Justice Anthony Kennedy plays a crucial role in a Supreme Court that may soon veer off in an extreme rightward direction.
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A President Rebuked
Bruce Shapiro : George W. Bush Administration
The Supreme Court's Hamdan v. Rumsfeld decision is to Bush what the Pentagon Papers were to Nixon: a devastating rebuke of a President who thought he had a blank check and a clear affirmation of human rights and the rule of law.
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The Nino Scalia Guide to Sicilian Hand Gestures
It can now be revealed that Justice Antonin Scalia has compiled his own secret list of Sicilian hand gestures expressing subtle jurisprudential points.
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Reap the Whirlwind
Bruce Shapiro : Civil Rights & Liberties
The rise of Samuel Alito and the death of Coretta Scott King mark the end of an era and the abandonment of our civil rights legacy by both political parties.
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NSA Spying Myths
David Cole : George W. Bush Administration
The Bush Administration has propagated five myths in its current campaign to rationalize its illegal domestic spying program.
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For Pro-Life Bloggers, a New Hubris
Esther Kaplan : Reproductive Rights
Relishing Samuel Alito's impact on the Supreme Court, pro-life bloggers are already laying strategies to win hearts and minds in a transformed legal landscape.
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Never Mind the Truth...
Eric Alterman : Journalists & Journalism
Coverage of the Alito hearings revealed once again that there is no liberal bias in mainstream media.
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A Is for Anti-Woman
Sharon Lerner : Reproductive Rights
What's at stake for women if Samuel Alito is confirmed to the US Supreme Court? Reproductive rights are only the tip of the iceberg.
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The Alito Failure
As Samuel Alito cruises toward confirmation, the process of vetting him demonstrates the price we pay for one-party government.
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Confirmation and Crisis
If the Alito confirmation hearings were a test of Democratic strategy, the Alito vote to come is a test of moderate Republican integrity and mettle.
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Compromised and Corrupted
Samuel Alito and his handlers have crafted a disingenuous campaign that reeks of ethical compromise, bending Senate rules, bending the truth and compromising the confirmation process.
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Right-Wing Revelation
Samuel Alito's blunt testimony on international law revealed the extremity of his judicial philosophy and carried profound implications for rulings he might make.
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Credibility Gap
A significant credibility gap opened between Samuel Alito's radical judicial record and his self-portrayal as an open-minded jurist before the Senate Judiciary Committee on his second day of testimony. Senators have reason to scrutinize a recent peer evaluation of Alito's rulings by Yale Law School, which locates him somewhere to the ideological right of Antonin Scalia.
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Biography as Destiny
On his first day of testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Samuel Alito was purely political, focusing on his blue-collar roots and the accomplishments of his immigrant family. But Democratic Senators focused on his judicial record on abortion, voting rights and conflicts of interest.
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The Limits of Power: Questions for Alito
Jeremy Brecher & Brendan Smith : George W. Bush
Revelations of the Bush Administration's domestic spying program have sharply shifted the focus of Samuel Alito's Supreme Court confirmation hearings from domestic and social issues to executive privilege during times of war. Here's a list of questions Alito should be asked to fully elicit his views on the scope and limits of presidential power.
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The Case Against Alito
: Conservatives & The American Right
Samuel Alito would swing the Supreme Court to a right-wing authoritarianism that is out of step with the public and the Constitution.
2005
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Pro-Alito Buzz Cloaks a Draconian Agenda
Seth Rosenthal : Presidential Appointments & Nominations
Advocates of Samuel A. Alito's nomination to the US Supreme Court praise him for "judicial restraint" and "not legislating from the bench." But the buzzwords conceal a political agenda that would scuttle precedent, strike down hard-won legislation and render other laws toothless.
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Post-9/11 Shell Game
To this day, no explanation has been offered as to why José Padilla spent years bandied around in US courts and detention centers. Now that Padilla faces reduced criminal charges, the government will never have to explain its actions, and never will.
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Alito's CAP Connection
Eyal Press : Affirmative Action
Samuel Alito once boasted he was a member of Concerned Alumni of Princeton, which opposed bemoaned the impact of co-education and affirmative action. What does this say about his character and the kind of place he would like America to be?
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What Would Alito Do?
Sharon Lerner : Reproductive Rights
If Samuel Alito is confirmed to the US Supreme Court, his impact on limiting reproductive rights would be certain and swift, due to his record and to two key abortion rights cases making their way to the Supreme Court.
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Showdown on the Court
: Senate
The nomination of Judge Samuel Alito to the US Supreme Court forces the debate the President and the Senate have tried so mightily to avoid: whether the Court should shift decisively and radically to the right.
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Serious Questions for Samuel A. Alito Jr.
Morton Mintz : Reproductive Rights
Questions for Supreme Court nominee Samuel A. Alito Jr.: What are the rights of an individual before the law? Are these rights any different from what Alito views as the rights of a corporation?
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Can Dems Say 'Finito' to 'Scalito'?
If the nomination of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court becomes the titanic battle that both sides in the judicial wars have been anticipating for years, Democrats must create a new playbook. If they stick to the same old strategies, they could end up wishing that Harriet Miers had fared better.
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Lessons From the Miers Debacle
What have Bush and his allies learned from this sorry epidode? Intellectual substance matters. Executive privilege is not absolute. Roe v. Wade is a bear trap for the GOP.
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One Possible Scenario
One twisted tale of how Harriet Miers's confirmation hearings will unfold.
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No Privilege for Miers
Stephen Gillers : Presidential Appointments & Nominations
Harriet Miers's slender public record makes it imperative that her advice the president on personal, executive and constitutional matters be fully disclosed to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
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If Not Miers, Who?
Katha Pollitt : Feminism & Women
Dear Karl Rove: Just in case Harriet Miers doesn't work out, why not nominate me?
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Reassuring the Right
Calvin Trillin : Conservatives & The American Right
Though her style is not dramatic, Harriet Miers is definitely enough of a fanatic to sit on the Bush Supreme Court.
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Scamming the States
Greg LeRoy : Corporate Responsibility & Accountability
Companies like Boeing, Dell and Daimler-Chrysler know how to extort tax cuts and subsidies from states eager to keep jobs from fleeing. But taxpayers, community groups and even a Supreme Court review are pushing back on corporate giveaways.
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With Friends Like This...
Robert Scheer : Conservatives & The American Right
An endorsement from James Dobson is scary enough, but the vituperative attack on Harriet Miers by the right raises other questions about why some conservatives are agitated about her nomination.
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Ten Questions for Harriet Miers
Morton Mintz : Corporate Influence in Washington
Corporate power and money control our lives and our politics as never before. As the Senate Judiciary Committee prepares for Harriet Miers's nomination hearings, here are ten legal questions worth pondering about corporations, individuals and the law.
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Crony Constitutionalism
Democrats have a chance to stand up for competence, civil liberties and the integrity of the Supreme Court by challenging Harriet Miers's lack of credentials and blocking Bush from using the Supreme Court to expand presidential powers.
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Roberts's Queer Reasoning on AIDS
When John G. Roberts Jr. counseled President Ronald Reagan on AIDS policies, did he willfully perpetuate the myth that AIDS can be spread by casual contact?
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The Roberts Converts
Bruce Shapiro : Democratic Party
The political chess match between the White House and Senate Democrats over the future of the Supreme Court took on new complexity as three Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to confirm John G. Roberts Jr.
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Levee Town
There are decades of memos from engineers and contractors setting forth budgets to build up the Gulf Coast's levees, but Bush wouldn't let them be.
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William Rehnquist
Bruce Shapiro : Conservatives & The American Right
William Rehnquist showed little regard for the social consequences that followed his unrelenting application of conservative legal theory.
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In Rehnquist's Footsteps
Bruce Shapiro : Civil Rights & Liberties
The death of William Rehnquist, the nomination of John G. Roberts Jr. to replace him and the agony of New Orleans represent a sad symmetry of events.
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Roberts, Without Illusions
: Conservatives & The American Right
As confirmation hearings open, we already know a great deal about John G. Roberts Jr. He's ethically challenged, ideologically rigid and unfit for the Supreme Court.
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Roberts and Roe
Kate Michelman : Reproductive Rights
Whether or not Roberts would overturn Roe, his judicial conservatism provides ample cause for concern.
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The Stakes in Roberts's Nomination
Bruce Shapiro : George W. Bush Administration
If you like the Patriot Act and Guantánamo, you'll love John Roberts.
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Supreme Court Watch
The stand Democrats take on Bush's Supreme Court nominee may well define their legacy.
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Cannabis Interrupted
Herman Schwartz : Civil Rights & Liberties
The Supreme Court's medical marijuana decision was a major setback for common sense.
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Bringing Human Rights Home
Alan Jenkins & Larry Cox : Human Rights
The United States should respect international human rights standards within its own borders.
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Unintended Consequences
The story of Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun illustrates the value of a truly independent judiciary.
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Debriefing Scalia
Gay & Lesbian Issues & Activism
An NYU law student asks a Supreme Court Justice, "Do you sodomize your wife?"
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Waiting for Roper v. Simmons
Patrick Mulvaney : Death Penalty
A forum on the juvenile death penalty.
2004
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The Rehnquist Election
Bruce Shapiro : Presidential Election 2004
This election is a referendum on William Rehnquist's Supreme Court.
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Out With Gerrymanders!
Herman Schwartz : Conservatives & The American Right
Many problems with our electoral system are not easily remedied, but gerrymandering can be.
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Rehnquist, Cambodia & Abu Ghraib
The Chief Justice wrote a rationale for Nixon's invasion that is being used to justify torture.
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The Long Road to Equality
The product of black legal skill and strategy, Brown has a black copyright.
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It Could Have Gone the Other Way
Michael J. Klarman : Education Policy & Reform
At the time, the Justices had doubts that Brown was rightly decided.
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The Climax of an Era
Various Contributors : Youth, Education, & Children
This forum, from the May 29, 1954, issue of The Nation, is a special selection from The Nation Digital Archive. If you want to read everything The Nation has ever published on the education and race, click here for information on how to acquire individual access to the Archive--an electronic database of every Nation article since 1865.
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Scalia's Flawed Judgment
A proverb tells us that no person should judge his or her own cause.
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Old MacDonald Had a Judge...
Quack, quack. So much for the constitutionally mandated separation of powers.
2003
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Queer Cheer
Richard Kim : Gay & Lesbian Issues & Activism
Lawrence ought to be read as protecting all consensual, private sexual relations, not just those that resemble heterosexual, procreative marriage.
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Diversity Over Justice
Eric Foner : Affirmative Action
It is a sign of the times that it required an appeal to the demands of globalization to persuade the Court to uphold affirmative action.
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Copyright Monopolies
Andrew L. Shapiro : Media Analysis
The 7-to-2 ruling in Eldred v. Ashcroft is a blow to consumer rights and free speech, and sets awful precedents.
2002
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The Court's Terrible Two
On the final day of the term the Supreme Court issued alarming 5-to-4 rulings on school vouchers and drug testing.
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Stealth Vouchers
Bill Berkowitz : Economic Policy
Education tax credits are Bush's payback to the religious right.
2001
2000
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Death Trip: The American Way of Execution
Robert Sherrill : Death Penalty
If you tried to sell death-penalty stock on Wall Street, the Securities and Exchange Commission would have you prosecuted for fraud.
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Democratic Vistas
What will the next four years bring? With luck, total gridlock.
This week: Can Barack Obama be a "People's President," or is his move to the center for good? Betsy Reed, Doug Henwood, Jo-Ann Mort, Ta-Nehisi Coates and Gary Younge debate. (13mb mp3)
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