My Decision 2012: The Courts

The Courts

The importance of the federal courts is greatly underestimated. Most people pay attention to them once or twice a year. However, given the tightness of the Citizens United decision, the importance of the courts can not be stressed enough. The Supreme Court is ideologically split: four conservative, four liberals, and one swing vote. This was the way the Citizens United decision came down (5-4) and why corporate personhood was upheld…unfortunately. There are also many challenges to the so-called Defense of Marriage Act that will come through the court in the near future.

Given the current ages of some of the sitting Supreme Court justices, it is quite likely that at least one or more will retire in the next four years. With the deluge of marriage equality cases hitting SCOTUS and other parts of the federal court system, as well as cases regarding other policy areas, who fills these posts will be of paramount importance.  It is, thus, vital for the president who will be nominating judges for these seats to know the difference between corporations and people, believes in equal protections under the law, and does not have an “I got mine, you’re on your own” mentality. President Barack Obama must be the man to fill these judicial posts with the proper pro-Constitution jurists.