Re: [pf] The Decision - the hope that lies ahead

by Sharon Flesher

15 December 2000 01:28 UTC

Jill wrote:
> I don't know that we would be any different off if Gore had won on the
> Supreme Court appointments coming up.  I have heard from several places
that
> the older conservative justices would have just held off their retirement
> until a more favorable political time.  If they were physically able to.
> The vulnerability of the body is something we can never figure in.

Stevens, at 80, is the oldest and is the one we have to hope can hang on for
4 more years. Rehnquist, now 76,  is expected to retire during Bush's term,
and possibly Scalia and O'Connor as well, but I would be surprised if Bush
would be able to get someone more conservative than Rehnquist and Scalia
past the Senate. I haven't been following the abortion issue closely
(shock!), so I'm not sure who the swing vote is that's kept Roe v. Wade
intact, but I'm guessing it's O'Connor.

Still, what worries me is not the Supreme Court appointments, which receive
so much scrutiny and media attention, but the thousands of other
appointments that do not. The bureaucracy has great powers these days. Think
of the alphabet soup: EPA, FDA, OSHA, etc. Countless right-wingers now have
the opportunity to run amok in their favorite agencies. These are the
agencies who decide if highways and golf courses can be built in wetlands,
for instance.

Citizens' groups, of course, can appeal those decisions to federal judges,
who are also appointed by the president. At least most of those remain on
the job when the administration changes.

Sharon