What hopes/fears do people have about this Court?

By all accounts, the conservative coup on the Court made great headway today. Why?

What are the issues that will come up, and which way do you want to see the Court rule? And for today, which way do you think Alito will rule?

Chime in if you’ve got ideas! or, head over to the discussion on Bring it On!

As for me…

One thing that I always keep in mind is that the Court usually operates incrementally. I think the second Rogers Court will chip away at things that many of us have come to hold dear. That’s what I’m most afraid of, because no one will really take notice until it’s too late. I think a lot of conservatives are going to freak out when their supposed judicial heroes start ruling against them.

Personally, I would like to see McCain-Feingold revisited. I think it’s a flawed bill that has some dangerous First Amendment implications. I encourage everyone to read Speaking Freely, by Floyd Abrams. (It’s easy to read and so, so, so interesting). He spent most of his career on what most would deem the liberal-side of the major First Amendment challenges, but argued against McCain-Feingold, because of some of its provisions.

For example, running an ad that mentions a candidates name is not allowed within certain number of days before an election, except by the campaigns themselves. Seems like the right thing to do, right? You don’t want huge amounts of soft money flooding the nightly tv broadcasts right before an election, right? But if you’re the President and you want to launch a program that might cause, say, the ACLU to object, you could effectively stifle their speech by launching in the months before your election. The ACLU, or whoever, couldn’t run ads in opposition thanks to McCain-Feingold.

I’m all for campaign finance reform, but I think the bill is flawed and should be revisited and fixed.

As for my fears, I have many. Given the current situation, I think it may be time to launch a state-level campaign to protect abortion, affirmative action, and a handful of other issues. The conservative movement learned this a long time ago, and it’s about all progressives have open to them right now. Check out PLAN, which writes fill-in-the-blank legislation for democratic state legislators (ALEC is its GOP counterpart. ALEC is 30 years old, PLAN is being founded right now).

I really don’t trust Alito on the bench.

As for his qualifications, I don’t think that there is any doubt as to his credentials. The man has been a judge for longer than almost any nominee in history.

However, I don’t “just” disagree with him. I believe his record as a judge and his past writings present a direct threat to much of what I believe in. I accept that conservatives will appoint conservatives–I didn’t raise much of a fuss about Roberts.

I think Bush, and many conservatives, got exactly what they wanted with Alito. However, I don’t think most of the country fully understands what Alito will be like on the bench, for which I blame the Democrats. I believe that Bush and his PR machine created a smoke screen around Alito that masked his true beliefs in order to place an man on the Supreme Court who will make rulings that large majorities of the country will disagree with.

Abortion isn’t the only issue at stake here, either. I think Alito’s record on privacy–which will surely be a huge issue in the future–and checks and balances point to future rulings that will scare many of us, perhaps even conservatives.

Finally, to recall the Miers nomination, I think public opinion can drive political decisions. The public was not supportive of Bush’s pick then because of her qualifications, so she was withdrawn. If the Democrats, or even any of the pro-choice Republicans, had managed to describe Alito’s record in a way that resonated with people, then I honestly believe that a filibuster would not have even been necessary, because Alito would have been withdrawn.

The next decade of decisions could well destroy My America.

[note]: Let’s list some issues/cases that are likely to come up.