Category Archives: Supreme Court Review

A newly-constituted Supreme Court reviews and reverses the Citizens United Decision.

March for “Democracy Spring”

The 140-mile march from Philadelphia against money in politics ended in Washington D.C. with a week of civil protests. Over 600 activists have been arrested to date.democracyspring

A prominent name among those arrested was Food First advocate Frances Moore Lappe, who said, “Democracy is the way we work together to meet our deepest nonphysical needs: for connection, meaning, and power. Tragically, this promise has been corrupted by a concept of democracy so thin that it’s let a wealthy minority drown out the voices of the people.”

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Supreme Court Nomination

This morning, President Obama announced his nomination of Judge  Merrick Garland for the vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court. He outlined three criteria, with the third one being perhaps the most important:

“However, I know there will be cases before the Supreme Court in which the law is not clear. In those cases, a Justice’s analysis will necessarily be shaped by his or her own perspective, ethics, and judgment.

“Therefore, the third quality I looked for in a judge is a keen understanding that justice is not about abstract legal theory, nor some footnote in a dusty casebook. It’s the kind of life experience earned outside the classroom and the courtroom; experience that suggests he or she views the law not only as an intellectual exercise, but also grasps the way it affects the daily reality of people’s lives in a big, complicated democracy, and in rapidly-changing times. In my view, that’s an essential element for arriving at just decisions and fair outcomes.”