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http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2007/6/25/223434.shtml?s=us
Rulings Show Supreme Court's Conservative Shift
NewsMax.com Wires Tuesday, June 26, 2007
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court liberated corporate and union political
spending, limited students' speech and shielded the White House faith-based
program from legal challenge today in 5-4 rulings that pointed up the
court's shift to the right.
President Bush's two appointees, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice
Samuel Alito, were front and center. They wrote the main opinions in those
three decisions - including the "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" free-speech case - as
well as another ruling that had been sought by the administration and
business groups in an environmental case.
Five justices - Roberts, Alito, Anthony Kennedy, Antonin Scalia and Clarence
Thomas - formed the majority in each decision. The court's four liberals,
Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, David Souter and John Paul Stevens,
dissented each time.
Kennedy, the only justice in the majority in all of the court's 21 5-4
decisions this term, has voted with his conservative colleagues more often
recently in the close cases.
With its term rapidly nearing an end, the court has perhaps the biggest
issue of the year still to decide: whether public school districts can take
account of race in assigning students to schools. Many court watchers are
expecting a similar ideological split, with conservatives limiting the use
of race.
Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards was among those who bemoaned
the court's rightward tilt.
The court "is moving the right wing's agenda faster than we've seen in
decades - slamming the courthouse doors in the faces of ordinary people,
favoring big businesses over civil rights and undermining protections for
women and the environment."
But White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said today's decisions included a
loss for the administration in the campaign finance case.
"The president's position is that in any case you're going to have someone
who loses and someone who wins, but we can all be confident that we have
fantastic Supreme Court justices. These are the type of people that the
president wanted to have on the bench," Perino said. "Chief Justice Roberts
and Justice Alito are proving themselves to be ones who have the
intellectual vigor that they can bring to the bench."
The campaign finance ruling, opening the way for deep-pocketed interests to
broadcast so-called issue advertising close to elections, was a clear
demonstration that changes in the court's lineup can alter a case's outcome.
In 2003, the court upheld the landmark McCain-Feingold campaign finance law,
which included a provision that barred interest groups from running
corporate- or union-funded radio and TV ads that mention a candidate's name
within 30 days of a primary or 60 days of a general election.
Justice Sandra Day O'Connor was in the majority four years ago. Today,
Alito, who took O'Connor's seat, joined Roberts' opinion taking a dim view
of restrictions on those ads.
"Where the First Amendment is implicated, the tie goes to the speaker, not
the censor," Roberts said.
Justice David Souter, who read from his dissent in the courtroom, said,
"After today, the ban on contributions by corporations and unions and the
limitation on their corrosive spending when they enter the political arena
are open to easy circumvention, and the possibilities for regulating
corporate and union campaign money are unclear."
Although the court divided along liberal-conservative lines, interest groups
across the political spectrum were allied in opposition to the advertising
restrictions.
Separately, Roberts endorsed First Amendment limits in his majority opinion
in the "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" case. Schools can regulate student expression
that advocates the use of illegal drugs, he said.
The principal of a Juneau, Alaska, high school suspended student John
Frederick who displayed the banner at a public event, provoking a civil
rights lawsuit.
The court did not go as far as the Bush administration and the school
district wanted, allowing schools to tamp down any speech officials
determined ran counter to their educational mission.
Alito, in a concurring opinion, said, "This argument can easily be
manipulated in dangerous ways, and I would reject it before such abuse
occurs."
Stevens wrote in dissent of the ruling that the banner was a nonsensical
message. "The court does serious violence to the First Amendment in
upholding - indeed, lauding - a school's decision to punish Frederick for
expressing a view with which it disagreed," he said.
Alito wrote the court's opinion that said ordinary taxpayers cannot
challenge a White House initiative that helps religious charities get a
share of federal money.
The decision blocks a lawsuit by a group of atheists and agnostics that
objects to government conferences in which administration officials
encourage religious charities to apply for federal grants.
In dissent, Souter said that the court should have allowed the taxpayer
challenge to proceed.
Rulings Show Supreme Court's Conservative Shift
NewsMax.com Wires Tuesday, June 26, 2007
WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court liberated corporate and union political
spending, limited students' speech and shielded the White House faith-based
program from legal challenge today in 5-4 rulings that pointed up the
court's shift to the right.
President Bush's two appointees, Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice
Samuel Alito, were front and center. They wrote the main opinions in those
three decisions - including the "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" free-speech case - as
well as another ruling that had been sought by the administration and
business groups in an environmental case.
Five justices - Roberts, Alito, Anthony Kennedy, Antonin Scalia and Clarence
Thomas - formed the majority in each decision. The court's four liberals,
Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, David Souter and John Paul Stevens,
dissented each time.
Kennedy, the only justice in the majority in all of the court's 21 5-4
decisions this term, has voted with his conservative colleagues more often
recently in the close cases.
With its term rapidly nearing an end, the court has perhaps the biggest
issue of the year still to decide: whether public school districts can take
account of race in assigning students to schools. Many court watchers are
expecting a similar ideological split, with conservatives limiting the use
of race.
Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards was among those who bemoaned
the court's rightward tilt.
The court "is moving the right wing's agenda faster than we've seen in
decades - slamming the courthouse doors in the faces of ordinary people,
favoring big businesses over civil rights and undermining protections for
women and the environment."
But White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said today's decisions included a
loss for the administration in the campaign finance case.
"The president's position is that in any case you're going to have someone
who loses and someone who wins, but we can all be confident that we have
fantastic Supreme Court justices. These are the type of people that the
president wanted to have on the bench," Perino said. "Chief Justice Roberts
and Justice Alito are proving themselves to be ones who have the
intellectual vigor that they can bring to the bench."
The campaign finance ruling, opening the way for deep-pocketed interests to
broadcast so-called issue advertising close to elections, was a clear
demonstration that changes in the court's lineup can alter a case's outcome.
In 2003, the court upheld the landmark McCain-Feingold campaign finance law,
which included a provision that barred interest groups from running
corporate- or union-funded radio and TV ads that mention a candidate's name
within 30 days of a primary or 60 days of a general election.
Justice Sandra Day O'Connor was in the majority four years ago. Today,
Alito, who took O'Connor's seat, joined Roberts' opinion taking a dim view
of restrictions on those ads.
"Where the First Amendment is implicated, the tie goes to the speaker, not
the censor," Roberts said.
Justice David Souter, who read from his dissent in the courtroom, said,
"After today, the ban on contributions by corporations and unions and the
limitation on their corrosive spending when they enter the political arena
are open to easy circumvention, and the possibilities for regulating
corporate and union campaign money are unclear."
Although the court divided along liberal-conservative lines, interest groups
across the political spectrum were allied in opposition to the advertising
restrictions.
Separately, Roberts endorsed First Amendment limits in his majority opinion
in the "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" case. Schools can regulate student expression
that advocates the use of illegal drugs, he said.
The principal of a Juneau, Alaska, high school suspended student John
Frederick who displayed the banner at a public event, provoking a civil
rights lawsuit.
The court did not go as far as the Bush administration and the school
district wanted, allowing schools to tamp down any speech officials
determined ran counter to their educational mission.
Alito, in a concurring opinion, said, "This argument can easily be
manipulated in dangerous ways, and I would reject it before such abuse
occurs."
Stevens wrote in dissent of the ruling that the banner was a nonsensical
message. "The court does serious violence to the First Amendment in
upholding - indeed, lauding - a school's decision to punish Frederick for
expressing a view with which it disagreed," he said.
Alito wrote the court's opinion that said ordinary taxpayers cannot
challenge a White House initiative that helps religious charities get a
share of federal money.
The decision blocks a lawsuit by a group of atheists and agnostics that
objects to government conferences in which administration officials
encourage religious charities to apply for federal grants.
In dissent, Souter said that the court should have allowed the taxpayer
challenge to proceed.
