Alito nomination the end?
So, with thousands of Americans I'm disappointed with the lack of cohesion of the democrats and the senate's nomination of Judge Alito.
But does this mean that the SCOTUS is now unbalanced toward right-wing idealogues?
I kept seeing reports about the right-wing cabal of Scalia, Thomas, Roberts, and now Alito. But doesn't that account for only 4 of the 9 Justices? If Ginsberg, Souter, Stevens, and Breyer represent the "liberal" members of the court (liberal in quotes b/c no one on the court is technically liberal), where does Kennedy fall?
Although I'm no legal scholar, I believe Kennedy tends to rule conservatively. But is he as conservative as the others? Could he change his rulings in the future?
If you consider the title of this blog and my last post now, our SCOTUS has just now undergone a division, a distinction, a movement towards a greater differentiation. As a result of this, there should be a re-organization and eventual integration. But what does this mean?
What could happen is that Kennedy recognizes that he now represents the coveted swing vote and become a bit more liberal a result of this new composition of Justices. Could other members of the conservative court take this role? I wouldn't expect this from Scalia or Thomas, or Alito. Roberts? Probably not. But stranger things have happened.
It happens all the time. Members of groups, recognizing extreme views of their group can pull away as a counterbalance.* While Justice O'Connor present, Kennedy never had an opportunity to play this pivotal position.
*Exceptions to this include what social psychologists call group polarization and group think, where groups create more and more extreme versions of their views. Typically this results from fear of group exclusion for countering the majority view. Of course, this doesn't apply on the SCOTUS since it's a lifetime appointment.
