The damage the five conservative justices on the Supreme Court have done is stunning. In two decisions (Citizens united & McCutcheon et al. v. Federal Election Commission) they have de facto sold our political process to the rich.
Not that I don’t appreciate the five justices assuring me that I have the freedom to give millions to candidates and super pacs just like anybody else.
There’s only one problem. As I once heard a man in night court in Kentucky tell the judge who said he had to pay a fine or go to jail, “Sorry Judge, but I ain’t got the money.”
So how have I and most other Americans benefited from the gift these justices have given?
Yet the same “fab five” threw out a key provision of the voting rights law that prevented states with a history of discrimination from revising their voting rights laws without prior approval from the justice department.
Of course, once the decision by the court was made several Republican controlled states did just that, passing laws that limit night and weekend voting hours, reduce early voting time, eliminate same day registration and voting, reduce the number of voting precincts, and require photo ID’s, laws every honest person knows primarily impact minorities and the poor.
Unless I am missing something, and that is always a possibility, decisions that give the rich more political power while at the same time opening the door to states limiting voting rights look a lot more political than judicial.
But if all of that wasn’t bad enough, what truly astounds me is that so many Americans support these decisions.
Think about it. The cornerstone of democracy is the right to vote in a fair election. All of these decisions, not some of them, but all of them, are a blow against that cornerstone.
Why would any citizen who cares about democracy agree with them?
Why would any citizen who cares about the integrity of elections agree with them?
Why would any citizen who wants money out of politics and supports the right of every citizen to vote agree with them?
I have no answer to those questions, but I do have another question for the “fab five” justices and the Republican legislators who are taking advantage of the court’s plutocratic decisions.
Have you no decency, sirs, have you no decency at all?
linnposts.com 
As to your first three questions, here is a cue: There is NO answer, or at least not a rational one. As to your final question: I don’t think decency entered in to the appointment of some of the judges, and CERTAINLY not in the three decisions you write about. In my view those decisions were NOT judicial, nor were they constitutional. Silly me, I always thought the SC was in the business of making constitutional decisions. It is now clear to me that they are in the business of making political decisions. I think this is disgusting, to put it lightly.
And very bad for the country. It was once the last resort for justice. Now it is too political to be considered just at all.
North Carolina is planning to introduce a bill that will prohibit anyone receiving public assistance from voting in any local or state elections.
This amounts to saying that the less fortunate members of the community are, in effect, non-citizens. As with South Africa under the Apartheid regime, a bonfire is being built that will, sooner or later, burst into flames. To every action there will be an equal and opposite reaction. Sir Isaac Newton cannot forever be defied.
Nigel, I think that is exactly what is happening here. History does repeat itself when people don’t learn from it.
How can we call ourselves “the land of the free…and the home of the brave” anymore since the Supreme Court has entered the political fray? It’s all too apparent where any semblance of JUSTICE has gone.
Again, this kind of thinking is based on America as a “republic” whereby power is vested in individuals and crowned by the philosophy of “natural law” (reaping whatever rewards one can gain through ones’ natural talents). Obviously the most gifted, privileged, cunning and opportunistic of individuals will accumulate most of the material wealth available. It’s only … “natural’! Democracy, the balancing founding principle with powers vested in the people as a collective, is a secondary consideration for libertarian types and in direct conflict with the nation as a republic; basically a nuisance. These folks are boldly taking the country for themselves, don’t care about or respect the “insignificant” majority, the plebiscite, and will only be stopped through very strong actions by the collective. Such activity IS happening at some local and state levels but has not reached national status yet. Perhaps that kind of slow grass roots action will flower into the next “declaration of independence”! Time will tell.