BREAKING: ACTIVIST JUDGES UPDATE!

Ban on funding religious study upheld

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Supreme Court ruled Wednesday a state scholarship plan that barred theology students from participating is not unconstitutional.

The justices by a 7-2 vote rejected a Washington state student's claim that he was being treated unfairly because of his major.

Writing for the majority, Chief Justice William Rehnquist said, "Given the historic and substantial state interest at issue, we therefore cannot conclude that the denial of funding for vocational religious instruction alone is constitutionally suspect."

[Here's a bit of Tony "Dick's huntin' buddy" Scalia's dissenting opinion. Ed.]

"Let there be no doubt: This case is about discrimination against a religious minority."

Hey, I though atheists were the in the minority..Somebody should let Antonin know that ~82% of American's identify themselves as Christian.

Link to breaking SCOTUS news

I feel really good knowing that guys like Antonin Scalia are on the highest court in the country. What an obtuse thing to say. Heh.

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Let's have a quick check of judicial activism in last hundred or so years in America.

This is just to illustrate a point. These are all U.S. Supreme Court decisions.

The following were decried at the time, as 'judicial activism.' Of course many still are today.

Scott v. Sandford (1856)
Upholding the institution of slavery

Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
Jim Crow laws -- Separate but equal

Buchanan v. Warley (1917)
Establishing equal access to housing

Shelley v. Kraemer (1948)
Equal access to housing

Brown v. Board of Education (1954)
Equal access to education ? separate but equal does not work

Brown v. Board of Education (1955)
Brown v. Board of Education upheld for all states

Heart of Atlanta Motel, Inc. v. United States (1964)
Equal access to accommodation

Katzenbach v. McClung (1964)
Service in a public establishment must not discriminate

Miranda v. Arizona (1966)
Right to Remain Silent

Roe v. Wade (1973)
Women's reproductive rights

Regents of the Univ. of Cal. v. Bakke (1978)
Affirmative Action in education

United Steelworkers of America, AFL-CIO-CLC v. Weber (1979)
Affirmative Action in hiring

Bob Jones Univ. v. United States (1983)
US government support prohibited from universities that discriminate

Adarand Constructors, Inc. v. Pena (1995)
Federal contracting for minority and Women-owned small businesses

Romer v. Evans (1996)
Gays and lesbians can not be denied full protection

Bush v. Gore (2000)
Court remands presidential election decision to State of Florida

You'll have no problem picking out which side the conservatives and liberals fell on these issues. They were all denounced and derided as being the work of 'activist judges.'

I think we can thankful for those 'activist judges.'

Although the above are all SCOTUS decisions, I'll let ninth circuit Judge Alfred "no God" Goodwin have the last words. I should note that Judge Goodwin was appointed by Richard M. Nixon..hardly a liberal.

Judge Goodwin:

"I'm a little disappointed in our chief executive -- who nobody ever accused of being a deep thinker -- for popping off."

"The more you know about something, the more difficult it gets sometimes."

"I've been a judge for 47 years and I've been called everything, so it doesn't bother me. It comes with the territory."

"If the court makes a decision someone likes, it's applauded as 'judicial statesmanship.' If not, it's called 'judicial activism.' "

Indeed. For a Nixon appointee, Goodwin has no problem reading the Constitution, and Articles of Amendment.