Ike once said his biggest mistake was nominating Earl Warren, of the Warren Report among other comedies, to the Supreme Court. Well, the GOP may feel a bit the same way in the future, and the left may breathe a relative sigh of relief, if Gorsuch and Kavanaugh continue to surprise by their votes on the court. Though, are these votes really such a surprise?
For no matter how many times responsible and empirical voices on the sane right tried to tell the Dems and America that these men were not crazed legal bomb throwers, the left tried to convince one and all that their ascension to the high court meant fascism was upon us and soon Pringle-hatted red cape-wearing Stepford Wifery (Oh sorry for conflating them. At least Stepford women were attractive. Pringles girls are generally gorgons, much like their “sex strike” sisters) would be the feminine fate.
But on recent cases both justices have bucked Dem paranoia and sided with their liberal colleagues on important cases. So guess what? Neither the right nor the left is omniscient.
Last week Gorsuch joined the lib wing in upholding Native American Indian hunting rights. I’m familiar with the case. The libs may have gotten that one right. Kavanaugh was the deciding vote, siding with the libs, which allows Apple to face an anti-trust lawsuit over the pricing of one of their apps. Also, not tremendously left-wing. In another matter, Clarence Thomas, not exactly a Bolshie, sided with the libs on a case involving Home Depot and debt collection.
On two more important cases, abortion restrictions (though they did rule for the humane disposition of the remains of babies after abortion) and assigning bathrooms and locker rooms by gender self-identification, the high court, including the conservatives, punted. For now.
What this tells us is that all the overconfident soothsayers on the right and Chicken Littles on the left were very possibly wrong about the future direction of the court on many issues. While Gorsuch and Kavanaugh do indeed seem more conservative than their colleagues, so did Breyer and Warren when they first joined the Big Bench.
Thus it is better to put away the emotion, on both sides, and wait for the proof. Will the screaming meemies on either side do that?
Nahhhhhhh…
