Supreme Court

via USA Today.

Interesting article describing the Court's two newest memebers, Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito, and their potential impact on pending issues. Abortion, obviously, is a big issue, as well as school integration/choice and the environment, along with the national security and civil liberty divide.

"Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito have signaled a readiness to move the court to the right. In recent cases involving abortion, global warming and school integration, Roberts and Alito have been aggressive and sometimes feisty proponents of conservative views and particularly sympathetic to arguments by the Bush administration."

Elections have consequences, and this is among the biggest of them all. Conservative Presidents have had a historically poor track record of nominating conservative justices, but President Bush appears, at this point, to have fulfilled his campaign promises to nominate justices that view legal matters pretty narrowly, rather than legislating questionable decisions from the bench. It will be interesting to see what kind of teeth gnashing and hair pulling these two justices cause liberals over the coming years. The court's more liberal members have certainly caused a lot of conservative heartburn over the years, it is ironic indeed to see the shoe on the other foot for a change.