Conservative Justices Might Make Conservative Rulings
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James Joyner | Wednesday, December 20, 2006 |
USA Today’s Joan Biskupic seems genuinely surprised that the appointment of a conservative Chief Justice and conservative Associate Justice to the Supreme Court by an ostensibly conservative president might shift the Court in a rightward direction.
Now, granted, we don’t really know because very few rulings have been handed down since Alito joined the court. But Biskupic can read the tea leaves, most notably oral arguments during which Chief Justice John Roberts and Alito have “added flair to the court’s public sessions and have contrasted sharply with the tentative approach that moderate Justices Sandra Day O’Connor and Anthony Kennedy often took in disputes over abortion, affirmative action and other key issues.”
Considering that Kennedy is still on the court, that’s a rather odd point of comparison. Still, one would expect (and conservatives certainly hope) that Alito would be more conservative than the wishy-washy O’Connor and there’s reason to expect that Roberts will be as conservative as his predecessor, the late William Rehnquist. Then again, O’Connor was a Reagan appointee and disappointed conservatives everywhere. Only time will tell whether Alito and Roberts remain true to their principles or “grow” while in office.
About the Author: James Joyner is the publisher of Outside the Beltway and the managing editor of the Atlantic Council. He's a former Army officer, Desert Storm vet, and college professor with a PhD in political science from The University of Alabama. He lives just outside the Beltway in Alexandria, Virginia with his wife and infant daughter.
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