Thursday, June 12, 2008

Ever the originalist

I'm happy that the Court has again bitch-slapped the Bush Administration for their wartime measures, but I just love this little Nino nugget:
Justices Samuel Alito, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas also dissented.

Scalia said the nation is "at war with radical Islamists" and that the court's decision "will make the war harder on us. It will almost certainly cause more Americans to be killed."
Now, I'm not arguing the point (I could, but not now). But what the fuck does this have to do with the constitutional argument of what the government is allowed to do in wartime--y'know, the argument that the Supreme Court is empowered to and supposed to decide? I'm well aware that Antonin Scalia basically believes that the morally reprehensible show 24 provides a basis for whatever the government wants to do. He constantly references the War on Terror in opinions such as these, and he seems to labor under the impression that it is the Court's job to ensure victory in war rather than protecting constitutional rights. What's right is what brings victory, and those things like "rights" and "laws" and "human dignity" are for those faggy ACLU types.

Yep, that's how the founders felt, too. Score one for originalism!

The Man, The Myth, The Bio

East Bay, California, United States
Problem: I have lots of opinions on politics and culture that I need to vent. If I do not do this I will wind up muttering to myself, and that's only like one or two steps away from being a hobo. Solution: I write two blogs. A political blog that has some evident sympathies (pro-Obama, mostly liberal though I dissent on some issues, like guns and trade) and a culture blog that does, well, cultural essays in a more long-form manner. My particular thing is taking overrated things (movies, mostly, but other things too) down a peg and putting underrated things up a peg. I'm sort of the court of last resort, and I tend to focus on more obscure cultural phenomena.