The Agenda of Activist Conservative Justices

States’ rights, no; corporate rights, yes – PostPartisan – The Washington Post By E.J. Dionne Jr.

The corporate conservative majority on the Supreme Court was at it again on Monday. By its customary 5 to 4 vote, the court threw out a Montana law that had been on the books since 1912, banning corporate spending on elections. Naturally, the court’s conservatives believe their judgment in the Citizens United case is so much more refined and intelligent than the judgment of the good people of Montana.Will everyone please finally admit that conservatives actually don’t care a whit about states’ rights unless invoking states’ rights happens to be helpful to the conservative agenda? Conservatives on the court have become complete and utter hypocrites on the matter of what states can and can’t do.

This has stuck in my craw for a long time. Recall that the Supreme Court had absolutely no qualms about telling the state of Florida in 2000 that there was no way it could recount its votes in a fashion that would be satisfactory, and never mind that the Florida Supreme Court had ruled in favor of recounts. Those recounts might have gotten in the way of George W. Bush’s elevation to the presidency. Face it: If states’ rights are inconvenient to the outcome conservatives want, conservative justices will find a way to supersede them.

States’ rights, no; corporate rights, yes – PostPartisan – The Washington Post

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