As you have probably heard by now, liberals have launched a “concerted” campaign to discredit traditionally conservative Supreme Court Justices.
From my perspective, this appears to be little more than a desperate attempt by the Left to hold onto the one bastion of government through which they can still ram through their agenda: The courts.
One objective is presumably to demonize justices like Scalia, Thomas (who’s wife, Ginni, will be contributing to The Daily Caller) and Alito. This, of course, is a worthy endeavor, in and of itself, if you’re a liberal.
But there’s likely an added benefit — to subtly lean on Justice Kennedy to swing to the left on ObamaCare, same-sex marriage cases, etc. (After all, though liberals try to persuade this as a conservative court, as the “swing vote,” it’s really more the Kennedy court than it is the Roberts court.)
And there’s likely another facet to this campaign — the effort to take a player off the field.
Liberal Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.) is playing a lead role in the “scandal” saga, as he has repeatedly called on Justice Clarence Thomas to recuse himself during the Court’s hearing on health care reform.
Weiner appeared on Fox News recently, asserting that Thomas has a conflicting “financial interest” due to the fact that “Ginni Thomas, the spouse of Justice Thomas, has received more than $700,000 from organizations whose existence is based on making sure the health care law is ruled unconstitutional.”
My guess is this is a preemptive strike — meant to level the playing field in the event Justice Kagan has to recuse herself from ruling on health care reform (because of her work on health care reform as Solicitor General).
Of course, this is all more than just a little bit hypocritical.
Another part of the Left’s campaign has been to criticize Scalia and Thomas for attending events sponsored by the Koch brothers — who are major donors to conservative and libertarian causes. But as The Washington Post recently editorialized, liberal justices have taken similar trips (though the mainstream media was largely silent). And, of course, liberal justices have had their conflicts of interest.
Yes, it’s politics, as usual…