Supreme Court Issues 4 Reactionary Rulings
Following two devastating Supreme Court decisions for women’s rights in Gonzales v Carhart and Ledbetter v Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company, the Supreme Court has issued four more reactionary rulings. In every case, the Court has split 5-4, with Bush’s appointees Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito siding with Justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony Kennedy, and Clarence Thomas. “The Bush-stacked Supreme Court, led by Justice Samuel Alito and Chief Justice John Roberts, is doing exactly what they were appointed to do,” Feminist Majority President Eleanor Smeal said. “They are rolling back the clock on women’s rights and promoting a pro-big business, pro-religious right agenda.”
In the first case, the Court ruled 5-4 that an anti-abortion group’s television ads, which encouraged voters to contact Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) while he was up for re-election, were not in violation of campaign finance rules. In 2002, campaign finance rules were revised to ban corporations and unions from running “issue ads” that included the names of candidates for federal office within 60 days of a general election and within 30 days of a primary or caucus. Republicans and business interests have been leading the effort to challenge these rules. Chief Justice Roberts, who wrote the decision for the majority, said that an advertiser’s intention to impact an election is not important, as long as they can show that it is a legitimate issue ad. “This is a big win for big money,” Mary Wilson, president of the League of Women Voters, said. “Chief Justice Roberts has reopened the door to corruption. [more]