Roberts graduated Harvard Law at age 24 or something, so he's not lacking in smarts (or at least a strong work ethic).

Or money. I know too many twits who can't find their butt with both hands who've graduated young from Harvard Law to be all that impressed with that CV entry. Main deputy solicitor general's a little more impressive. I know the current solicitor general (until recently was deputy), and he's smart and a hard worker. Conservative as all get out and a NASCAR fan in the mix.

However, from what I heard his wife is part of Feminists for Life which is an anti-Roe-v-Wade group.

Knowing the hours successful attorneys pull, he's probably seen her twice in the last 5 years.

Scalia's a brilliant legal mind, but that doesn't mean he doesn't frame his arguments to get him the outcome he wants.

whereas, if the Republican party asked him to, Thomas would insist that gravity does not exist right until the moment the falling piano squashed him flat.

Ok, who do I have to sell my soul to to make this happen?

I'm kind of conflicted because his opinion on Roe vs. Wade as publicly stated mirrors my own (disagree personally but believe it should be enforced as the Will of the People/Supreme Court). But most of the people who agree with me on that issue swing WAY further right on everything else.

And that's only 52% of whatever the percentage of eligible voters who voted (which is what - 65% or something).

I think that 65% might be high, but I'm too afraid of making myself morose, to google it.

I think that it's like a slingshot. The band has been pulled as tightly as possible to the right, and the tension has maxed out. It will either break or completely snap back to the left. But not before we get a rock between the eyes.

HA!

I've never, ever felt this kind of helpless anger and disconnection before, and it's a constant struggle not to just say "you know what, fuck us. We got the government we asked for, and now we get to reap the rewards."

I think that what were seeing is the people who felt just this way when the Democrats were (mostly) in charge of everything (roughly from FDR until Reagan - Ike and Nixon detours aside) are now getting things their way. It would certainly explain the level of vindictiveness and the whole "we're still the victims even though we're in charge of all 3 government branches" mentality.

After Scalia's dissent in Lawrence v. Texas

This would be the obnox factor. He's an incredibly sore loser, and I find he's a sore winner, too. It's not just that I personally find it annoying and embarrassing, that public speech can be so snarly-nasty, but I also expect more decorum out of our Supremes.

They require those who come to argue before them to wear morning coats, you know. If you're going to get all formal with the cut of a man's suit, I should think the cut of a man's tongue (or pen) would matter too.

Good point, Frank. It's exactly the people who, when they were the age I am now, were thinking, "Things are as bad as they've ever been in my lifetime," who are now in charge.

I think that what were seeing is the people who felt just this way when the Democrats were (mostly) in charge

I think people just want strong authority figures, and the Dems are really bad at that.

It's the will of the people, right?

The whole Constitution is designed to keep the will of the people from getting too obnoxious. The founders were well aware of the public's ability to swing far in one direction and consciously sought to mitigate those swings.

It's kind of a bad bit of timing though that Clinton didn't get to nominate that many Supremes during an eight year run. It was sandwiched by 12 years of Republicans on one side and 8 years of Republicans on the other.

It is disheartening though.

I find his stated opinion on Roe vs. Wade disturbing. Given my druthers I'd rather have someone who said that abortion was the choice of the pregnant woman, period, full-stop. But I don't know if we could get that someone through the Senate at the moment. Roberts may be as good as we're going to get at the moment, scary though that is.

In utterly unrelated news, I've been toying with the idea of going back to school for my MLS. Partially because I like the thought of being a librarian, and partly because I'm thinking it might make me a bit more employable. There's a school in town (NC Central University) where I could get my degree through a mix of evening and online classes. Do any current librarians have an opinion? Am I dreaming about the whole better employability thing (my current degrees are in English, so I'm thinking it's all kinda relative)?