The problem with Justice Scalia

I am surprised to learn this week that a large number of my peers have been blessed with the ability to avoid agonizing over the underlying mechanics of the major issues of law that have misguided our country for much of the last three decades. This explains why some may not be familiar with the strong right hand influence of Justice Scalia on modern American history. He had a brilliant mind and was well received when he joined the Court in 1986 and I will always admire his powerful writing skill.

Yet the world has changed since 1986. My beliefs evolved; yours probably did also. Justice Scalia’s positions did not evolve and that was the problem. In recent years he could be counted on only for offering an opinion that was out-of-touch with today’s realities. His power and influence was not that he swayed the court but rather that he acted as a rock that stayed on the right-wing conservative Republican stance no matter what the facts of the question at hand.

The bottom line is that I hope to find the new Supreme Court Justice to be less predictable and more influenced by the facts of the matter than the Honorable Justice we lay to rest now.

We Americans have important work to do now to save our nation, perhaps now starting with overturning the Supreme Court’s poorly considered Citizens United decision.