For Liberals, High Stakes at High Court

By Thomas B. Edsall and Michael A. Fletcher - Monday, July 11th , 2005 - Washington Post

Ralph G. Neas, president of the liberal advocacy group People for the American Way, began the George W. Bush years leading the fight against the president's 2001 tax cut. He lost.

Wade Henderson, executive director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, has been a leading voice in opposition to provisions in the USA Patriot Act that he and other civil rights leaders say needlessly restrict civil liberties. So far, the act is unchanged.

Nan Aron, president of the Alliance for Justice, has joined coalitions that have opposed what she saw as pro-business proposals to make it more difficult for consumers to file for bankruptcy and to limit plaintiffs' options in class-action lawsuits. Those measures were passed into law earlier this year (despite her opposition).

These liberal lobbyists are a triumvirate now leading the left into what they view as their biggest battle yet: to stop conservatives from replacing retiring Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor with a justice firmly aligned with the right.

Our courts have become so politicized that there is a most vicious campaign conducted for every position. Clarence Thomas and Robert Bork were smeared beyond any limits of reasonable behavior. The left has never apologized. They see this as war. As they lose power due to the rejection of their extreme left wing ideology, they keep escalating the hatefulness and viciousness of their attacks.

This politicizing is the basis for the problems we have with our courts. As long as the courts pander to the left wing agenda, the judges have been left alone to stretch the bounds of court power. The result is rulings such as Kelo, which even the left wing extremists think has gone too far.

The question that concerns me is whether we can ever get court integrity back?