Supremes Get One Right

Today the U. S. Supreme Court overturned the D.C. gun ban in a 5-4 decision. They affirmed what the constitution clearly states, that individuals have the right to own guns. One has to ask why it took 34 years to get what was a clearly unconstitutional law overturned. It also makes it clear how fragile our constitutional system is. We have four and a half judges on the Supreme Court who think that there job is to fix all the world's problems in the way that they think is best. Anthony Kennedy is persuaded to do the correct thing about half the time. Yet, the four liberal activist judges are very elderly. John Paul Stevens is around 90 years of age. The the other three are in their 70's. In the next four years the president may well appoint as many as seven justices. That assumes that younger justices like Alito and Roberts remain in good health. Since justices are appointed for life the actual expectation is 2-3. Depending on who is replaced, it may or may not change the balance of the court. But our constitution and liberties are not truly safe until we get a clear orginalist majority on the court. This is one area where President Bush has excelled. In fact he is the best president in my lifetime at appointing supreme court justices. John McCain has promised that he will appoint justices in the mold of Roberts and Alito. If indeed he does win the election and keeps this promise, the court could be secured for a generation.