WP: Kennedy Seen as The Next Justice In Court's Middle

[DeepModem Mom]

Kennedy Seen as The Next Justice In Court's Middle
Alito Expected to Tilt Conservative

By Charles Lane
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, January 31, 2006; Page A04


Should Samuel A. Alito Jr. be confirmed to the Supreme Court today, as expected, it will mark the beginning of a new Supreme Court era -- and, perhaps more important, the end of an old, familiar one.

For much of the past 24 years, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, whom Alito would replace, has wielded the swing vote on a split court, usually casting her lot with the court's four other conservative justices, but siding with liberals on such crucial issues as abortion, affirmative action and campaign finance reform.

Alito's arrival, however, may turn the O'Connor Court into the Kennedy Court. If, as many expect, Alito forms a four-vote conservative bloc with Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, that would leave Justice Anthony M. Kennedy -- a conservative who has occasionally voted with liberals on gay rights, the death penalty and abortion -- as the court's least predictable member.

"Assuming the predictions about Alito's views are correct, he turns Justice Kennedy into a swing vote on a lot of issues," said Pamela Karlan, a professor of law at Stanford University who teaches a course on the current Supreme Court.

No case illustrates the new dynamic better than the challenge to a Republican-drafted congressional redistricting plan for Texas, which the court will hear on March 1. The stakes in the case are huge and could include eventual control of the closely divided House....


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/30/AR2006013001356.html?sub=AR

[xchrom]

1. the texas redistricting case will go to the conservatives

or i'm a monkey's aunt.

[bryant69]

2. Hmmmm

I'm pretty sure you aren't a monkey's aunt.

Yeah i don't know what will happen on abortion, but i do know what will happen on a lot of other cases.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[xchrom]

5. a vote of confidence!

my thanks -- and i'm guessing some monkey somewhere is thinking ''whew''.

[mdmc]

3. that would be cool

Or Mario Cuomo

[kentuck]

4. I have thought this all along...

Kennedy is the new center. He was once considered right-wing but now he is considered the "center". That is the bottom line with this new Supreme Court.

[bunkerbuster1]

6. I'm not looking for silver linings, but...

Everyone knows that Presidents have tried to pack the Court with what they thought were right-wing stooges, who turned out to be far more thoughtful and liberal than expected.

I think something happens to judges when they're actually on the SCOTUS; they realize they're free to do and to be anything they want. Some rise to it, some don't.

[magellan]

7. It's the bottom line with the entire country

Sadly I doubt many Americans realize it. But it's too late now.