Friday, June 5, 2009

Finally got around to reading Ross Douthat's column this week, and...it's good. I think this is the first one that a) is completely sound and b) that I agree with. I, for one, would like to see something along these lines:
There are bipartisan ways that the Court could be reined in, and the legislative branch reinvigorated. Shugerman, Caminker and others have proposed a supermajority rule, for instance, requiring a 6-to-3 vote to overturn federal legislation. To get conservatives on board, the rule would have to be extended to state legislation as well. This isn’t as crazy as it sounds — versions of the supermajority idea have been batted around by left and right alike since Reconstruction, and merely proposing it might spur the Court toward greater consensus, and perhaps greater modesty as well.
I do think it's clear--to honest conservatives as well as to liberals--that we need to add some additional checks to the Court's power. They do have a tendency to act up, and sometimes just making a push to bring them under control--think of FDR's failed court packing scheme--sometimes is enough to bring them in line. I generally oppose the filibuster as it is presently constituted, but I think that it might make some sense with respect to judicial nominees, to ensure that nobody too radical winds up on the bench. Then again, it wouldn't have worked with John Roberts, so maybe what Douthat's suggesting is better.

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.