Today the five justices of SCOTGO — Supreme Court of the Galatian Overlords — made it a lot easier for the Right to take down public employee unions.
On First Amendment Thursday, the conservative majority on the Supreme Court delivered an unsubtle warning to public employee unions: You are living on borrowed time.
In Knox v. Service Employees International Union, the five—Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, Clarence Thomas, and Samuel A. Alito—reached out to decide a question that was not argued or briefed; their opinion all but begs right-wing advocacy groups and public employers to use its emerging First-Amendment jurisprudence to take down public-employee unions and in essence find a Southern-style “right to work†law in the Constitution.
The article linked explains the decision better than I can. Two justices, Sotomayor and Ginsburg, concurred in the result but objected that the written decision addressed “unnecessarily significant constitutional issues well outside the scope of the questions presented and briefing,” Sotomayor wrote. Breyer and Kagan dissented.
Next week: The Obamacare decision.
It was as obvious as a nose on an elephant, because it wasn’t the relatively narrow decision of Citizens United. There is a continual onslaught against liberal, progressives and the whole FDR/Democrat/labor union movement legacy.
There IS a reason that the Articles of Confederation did not work. These five justices will live to see the death throes of the Republic.
Boy, for a strict “Constructionist,” “Non-activist,” Court, they sure are ‘active’ in ‘de-construction!’
And that John Roberts is one hell of an Umpire – if you’re a Conservative!
Every pitch your Pitcher throws is a strike. And every one the opposition throws is a ball.
I sometimes think Roland Freisler, “Hilter’s Judge,” had a more open mind than 4 out of our 5 non-“Liberal” Justices. And the 5th, Kennedy, is an attention whore, acting like he’s “independent” – but he still votes, most of the time, with the “Four Justices of the Apocalypse” – the American Apocalypse, that is.
The only hope this country has, is that Obama wins, and a few of these 4-5 ‘no-justices’ either retire, or kick the bucket. And for most of those 5, well, they’re almost done with their “bucket-list.” Next week, they’ll probably be able to scratch another one off the list – ACA.
And there’s almost NO chance of any real Liberals making the SC, thanks to the R’s and Red Dog D’s in the Senate. So, the best we can hope for, is a few Centrist’s to replace the ‘Frothing-at-the-Mouth Four,” and their best friend, Kennedy – and I don’t meat John, Bobby, or Ted, either.
And if Mitt wins, and has a R Congress, it’s “lights-out” for anyone who’s not already rich and powerful – or at least be a willing sycophant for them..
The House will pass draconian, theistic, corporatist, laws.
The Senate will vote for them.
The President will sign them.
And, on the off-chance that they make it to the SC, they will be given the stamp-of-approval.
We are well, and truly, fucked if that happens. As individuals, and as a nation.
cund – SCOTUS, at least what it’s devolved into, allows funding of a candidate for governor of a state to come from out-of-state (think Wisconsin), BUT, in order to vote for a governor of a state, one must be a resident of that state.
This peculiar practice flies directly in the face of the money-is-speech decision made by the Court years ago. I can financially support a candidate but I can’t vote for the candidate (governor) – if money-is-speech, financing and voting are the same thing.
(Your post reminded me of the plethora of nonsense decisions made by the Court in the last 40 years or so.)
Couldn’t agree more, C u n d gulag. OR FEEL WORSE!!! Cannot live in fear, Cannot live in fear, Cannot live in fear, Cannot live in fear, !!! However I am running out of other places to live.
Great! Chief!! You just made me feel worse. Didn’t think it was possible. Oh well!!!!
Dyedin . . .
I would move to a Central or South American country except for the following:
1. My wife of 51+ years won’t follow me.
2. I have too many critters (dogs/cats) to haul with me.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=sIE5nWrJJRM&NR=1
OT:
For anyone who misses America’s former shittiest artist, the late Thomas Kinkade, I bring you America’s newest shittiest artist – Jon McNaughton. He’s exponentially shittier than ‘Ol’ Tom O’ the Lights.” I’m sure you’ve seen his works of (f)art before.
Take a look at this, his latest master(bating)piece of shit:
http://www.buzzfeed.com/mhastings/anti-obama-artist-strikes-again
It’s called “‘The Empowered Man’—which shows President Obama watching in horror as a thirty something white male, standing in front of the White House holds up the U.S. constitution in one hand and a wad of cash in the other—was released this week.”
And I really love his sense of perspective.
Take a look at the size of Obama’s hands! He could palm VW Bug with those things!
Ah, Conservatives…
You can’t think.
You can’t reason.
You have no sense of humor.
And you sure as shit can’t paint, either.
And I’m also sure this POS will net this feckin’ idjit millions.
I also noticed, that “The Empowered Man” in the “painting,” looks a lot like the German former tennis great, Boris Becker:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boris_Becker
Why, oh why, Mr.McNaughton, did you “insource” a millionaire German tennis player to play a common American man?
WHY?
Clarence will vote the way Scalia tells him. He just wants to get back to viewing his skin flicks….He cares more for the adventures of Long Dong Silver than he does for American Jurisprudence.