About Those Recent Supreme Court Rulings. How About a Conspiracy Theory?

A BUZZFLASH READER COMMENTARY

Call me "Sleepless in Washington State."

I'm not a conspiracy theorist, and I'm not very tolerant of conspiracy
theorists. But this has been an upsetting week. Listen to this and then
tell me if I'm over the top.

OK, let's say a friend asked me what I thought about the two latest
prime-time Supreme Court decisions: upholding affirmative action at the
University of Michigan, and striking down anti-sodomy laws in Texas.

I said I was reassured and encouraged. Maybe we're not headed down the
tubes so fast after all. The Court is still in synch with the American
mainstream.

Then he said, well, do you think it's just possible that the Supreme
Court's ostensibly moderate decisions are an early manifestation of the
Bush campaign's 2004 campaign strategy?

Huh?

-- Don't the Democrats always rally their voters on the issue of Supreme
Court appointments? Aren't some voters a little scared of a Supreme Court
moving too far right, out of the mainstream? How convenient for the Bush
campaign to be able to neutralize that argument.

But you're saying the Bush people instructed the justices -- or maybe just
Justice O'Connor -- to uphold affirmative action in Michigan? I thought
the administration submitted an amicus brief on the other side -- to
disallow consideration of race in the University's admissions processes.

-- And so it did. And maybe I wouldn't say instructing the justices, or
any one of them, to go the other way. You'll never see any memo or minutes
of a meeting. But there are lots of ways to do things in Washington D.C.,
as everyone knows. Think Karl Rove. A word or two at a cocktail party or a
working lunch, that's all it took: Hey, just let people see that the Court
is mainstream, even a bit to the left. Minorities will feel really good,
and Dems citing the bogeyman of far-right Supreme Court domination will
look foolishly alarmist. They'll show that the Court is not only
mainstream, but independent. And they'll build the pressure to go for the
whole enchilada after the election's in the bag.

Wait a minute. You mean the Court is helping the Bush administration
appear centrist to help him out in the '04 election?


Read more of this commentary at:
http://www.buzzflash.com/contributors/03/06/29_court.html