Justice Alito

For some strange reason, my father, in his dotage, is becoming more of a political animal. Sadly, such transformation involves becoming pretty much something of a dittohead. He calls the New York Times the "Traitor Times." He says the Washington Post is not so much traitorous as corrupt. He subscribes to the Washington Times now, balancing out Sharon's subscription to the Post. Oh, yeah, he reads Ann Coulter now, too.

Whatever. It's good at least to see him at least paying attention to the body politic, although he has some catching up to do. He asked me to explain "undue burden" to him on Saturday. I mean, I'm no scholar by any stretch of the imagination, but I do think any discussion of Roe necessitates a little background knowledge, Griswold and Casey at least. Or at least know who Harry Blackmun is before you go declaring that he pulled Roe out of his ass.

There are a handful of Supreme Court decisions we should all be at least passingly familiar with: Marbury v. Madison, Dred Scott, Plessy v. Ferguson, Brown, Miranda, and Roe.

Get a little bit geekier and throw Korematsu in there, at least for lefties. And then we can go back before Roe to Griswold and then forward to Casey.

So, anyway, my father also seemed quite triumphant over Alito's appoinment, treating it almost as a personal victory. I myself found Judge Alito quite the dissembler, regarding his personal views when presenting himself as a job applicant to the Reagan Justice Department vs. his views now when presenting himself as a job applicant to the Senate, regarding his affiliation with Concerned Alumni of Princeton, and regarding Vanguard and (non) recusal.

But, hell, they confirmed Rehnquist, and he defended Plessy.

And so now we have five Catholics on the Supreme Court. Gee, you think that's an accident? Think somebody's up to something?