Respect for the judicial black robe is eroding!
Recent decisions by the Supreme Court have brought the integrity of this court under scrutiny.
From Bush v. Gore, to imminent domain, to Citizens United, to body searches, to ethics problems, a greater number of the nation's highest court's rulings defy common sense and judicial principles.
And it could get even worse!
The High Court heard arguments on the Affordable Care Act (ACA); more specifically the constitutionality of the public mandate and whether overturning the mandate would essentially neuter the healthcare act.
Although the act falls short of what it could have done for the overall health of the nation, the mandate is imperative to its success and the implementation of more positive aspects of the legislation through 2014.
Perhaps the court's biggest mistake, or at least one of the most notable and deleterious, was the now infamous Citizens United opinion which has destroyed the democratic electoral process. Just over a year ago, five men in black robes dealt "A Supreme Blow to Democracy," and, in effect, led this country down another dark path fraught with lies and dishonesty.
With that decision they unleashed the hounds of hell and approved out-of-control campaign financing which allows the insidious rich and unscrupulous and unpatriotic corporations to distort an already flawed and imbalanced electoral system.
Wealthy donors like casino operator Sheldon Adelson or multi-millionaire Foster Friess sink millions of dollars into tainted and imbecilic campaigns like Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum's. Organizations like Americans For Prosperity, American Crossroads, and Crossroads GPS are given license to, under a veil of secrecy, spew their venomous lies on an unsuspecting public without transparency or repercussion. And, the losers are the American people.
Their recent ruling in Florence v. Board of Chosen Freeholders of the County of Burlington, allowing ridiculous full body searches, even for misdemeanors, is clearly a denigration of the 4th Amendment. But the same five judicial gentlemen who gave us Citizens United chose to take away another of our personal freedoms by legislating from an already stained bench.
Biased misinterpretations of the Constitution are becoming the legacy of this court -- decisions legislated from the bench that defy reasonable jurisprudence.
Ethics further tarnish the ebony robes of this court. Though the Supreme Court justices are not held to the same high ethics standards as lower judicial magistrates, ethics must be considered when evaluating their decisions and opinions.
A patina falls over this court the result of partisan actions and the ethics of Justice's Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia which must not be overlooked.
Both have participated in Koch Industries' sponsored events which reek of political impropriety and should be thoroughly investigated and matched to opinions of these two justices.
Now the American people have another Supreme Court decision to be concerned about, after it heard arguments on the Affordable Care Act.
Based on some of the comments and questions posed by our most revered jurists, the validity of what might be their final opinion has become cause for speculation and distrust in the make up of this court.
Scalia's reference to broccoli was not only infantile but political hyperbole distracting from the importance of the ACA to millions of Americans.
But, of even graver concern, is Thomas's obvious conflict of interest related to his wife's employment with Liberty Central -- a tea party group that fought the health care reform legislation. He further failed to disclose her income from Liberty and her income for previous years from the right wing think tank, Heritage Foundation.
Thomas's connection to one side of the Affordable Care Act and the failure to disclose his wife's income from the Heritage Foundation for five years is obvious justification for Thomas's recusal from the ACA opinion.
And now the Court is entertaining arguments concerning immigration, and draconian laws recently adopted in Arizona and other states. Arizona's biggest proponent of their over-the-top immigration statute, Russell Pearce, has been recalled by the citizens of the sand-infested, water-deficient state.
Given the make-up of this court expectations are extremely low that the five justices with red blinders will rule on the side of the American people on either the healthcare or immigration issues.
The intentions of this court are clear. The obsequious nature of the five ideological justices are obfuscating the spirit of our Constitution; serving a viral ideology over the good of the common people.
Their actions make this election more important than ever.
We're stuck with four ideologues on the bench which leaves our country -- the very survival of our democracy -- in jeopardy.
Our highest court is no longer supreme, and the activism of the Roberts Court is destructive.
Electing Mitt Romney, allowing him to select a new justice, would further damage our hopes and the pursuit of the American Dream.