Even Texas Judges are Worried…
Jeralyn Merritt at Talk Left links to Court TV anchor and former Texas Judge Catherine Crier’s blog. Crier is not known for her flaming radicalism, but even she is alarmed by the implications of the current filibuster row:
The Senate filibuster fight between Republicans and Democrats is not over the majority?s attempt to put more conservative judges on the bench. Contrary to their mantra–that liberal ?activist? judges have taken over the courts–the nation has had a majority of Republican appointees on the federal bench and Supreme Court for generations. No, this is a fight over a very specific judicial ideology that the far right wing of the Republican Party wants ensconced in our courts.
Crier interviewed arch-theocrat and Bush supporter Pat Buchanan on her show, where he was blunt, even brutal ,in outlining the Republican/Dominionist agenda. She’s since had time for the full import of his words to percolate:
“Thank you, Pat, for your honesty. What the far right wants is a ?super legislature? of their own. Their mission is clear; to reverse case law involving civil rights, abortion rights, the ban on execution of juveniles, and even the application of the federal Bill of Rights to our state governments, to name but a few areas under attack.” (My emphasis) “The federal court nomination of Justice Janice Rogers Brown of the California Supreme Court is now before the Senate. She has clearly expressed her feelings about the ?socialist? policies enacted during FDR?s administration, and in a recent speech, she made it clear that religious values in America are threatened by ?an increasingly secular culture?. She went on the say that ?these are perilous times for people of faith?. Good Lord, how?
The Christian right has portrayed themselves as victims long enough. Every Sunday morning, I have several national networks offering me salvation. Of course, I can always join Pat Robertson on the 700 Club. This fundamentalist voice dominates talk radio, and cable talk shows have elevated dramatically their agenda in the public eye. Christian music is rockin? and the Left Behind series outsells every other fiction book on the market. A new megachurch (defined as one attracting more than 2,000 members weekly) spring up every two days in this country according to the founder of Church Growth Today. Just how much do they want? They want it all.
The real fight is not over the lower courts in the federal system, but instead, the ultimate prize–the highest court in the land. There is no question that President Bush will have the opportunity to appoint several justices to that Court during his second term. He has made his ideological preferences clear. Conservative justices aren?t enough. He wants jurists of a particular persuasion. They must satisfy the requirements of fundamentalist Christians, with a willingness to roll back the clock to a time where children prayed to Jesus in public school, gays were back in the closet and women were forced into back alleys.
The filibuster row isn’t about some abstruse point of parliamentary protocol. Think Malcolm Glazer and Manchester Utd. Glazer needed over 75% of the shares to take the club out of the control of the shareholders, so he could turn in it into his own private Subbuteo game. Like any capitalist, he likes to win. But a football club is not a country.
The Republicans are already at the metaphorical 75% shares point; they have the White House and both Houses of Congress. They have it all. That’s not enough for them, though. It’s not enough to turn the country into Bush’s private playpen but there must be no complaints and no opposition. They will not brook dissent. Disagreement, even rational disagreement, must be stifled by any means, fair or foul; but mostly foul. The ability to speak against legislation and nominations to government posts, no matter how inefectually (and yes, I mean you, Democrats) is essential in any society that calls itself free.
The filibuster, in itself, is not the crux of the matter. What is central is the White House’s determination, channeled through that ventriloquist’s dummy Senator Frist, to change Senate rules to ban the filibuster.The Republicans can’t win a vote to to change the rules, so are relying on Dick Cheney, of all people, who is hardly a disinterested observer, to place a casting vote in their favour and pass the filibuster ban that way.
When he does, and he will, there will be no impediment to the exercise of unfettered Republican power. They’ll be able to change the rules on a whim. Bush and his Dominionist handlers will be able to pack the Supreme Court with a selection of variously and severally batshit-insane, corrupt, theocratic and ethically compromised judges, for life. This will set the tone of government for generations to come, should there be any, and the Supreme Court will be just the start. Next stop the Constitution and Bill of Rights.
Crier is right to be worried. We should all be worried. Naked power-grabs, stifling dissent, stealing elections, locking people up without trial, torture – the US has entered Mugabe-government territory. Who knows where this will lead.
