Too late:

The Los Angeles Times has an editorial, Navigating the new court, where we read: (emp add)

A LOT OF FOLKS ARE IN A TIZZY about Tuesday's Supreme Court session. Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. will hear his first oral arguments. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. will hear his first environmental cases. The Bush administration, hardly known for its enthusiastic enforcement of federal environmental laws, will argue vehemently in favor of one of the most comprehensive environmental laws on the books, the Clean Water Act. Most exciting of all, at least for court junkies, the cases could provide clues about the new justices' view of the Constitution's commerce clause, which established the federal government's power to regulate local matters that at least theoretically affect interstate commerce. Depending on its interpretation, the new court could decide to upend the balance of state and federal power as we know it.

It should not be exciting. We shouldn't have to wait until after a justice is already on the court to learn how he or she views the commerce clause. That should be known, discussed, and voted on during the confirmation process.

The Los Angeles Times is wrong to portray major issues like a justice's stand like it's a game wherein "court junkies" get excited over "clues" as to what's going on.


posted by Quiddity at 2/20/2006 09:33:00 AM