Dream a little dream

At Talking Points Memo Peter Dreier imagines a world in which the Dems win the 2016 Presidential election and two of the eldest Supreme Court Justices (Kennedy and Scalia) retire. I admit it’s a pleasant fantasy, but while thinking about it he forgets that there’s a filibuster procedure which is still in place for judicial nominations. The odds of getting a truly liberal nominee through the Senate Judiciary Committee, much less the full Senate, are pretty slim unless the Dems win a majority of the 20-odd Republican Senate seats which will be up for grabs that year.

He discusses his wishlist anyway, and it’s not bad. Ideas include: overturn Citizens United, overturn last week’s Harris v. Quinn (the union fees decision), decide same-sex marriage is a right conferred by the Feds, not by each state, overturn Hobby Lobby and other cases giving rights formerly held by persons to corporations as well, re-establish Section V of the Voting Rights Act, which forces Federal Department of Justice pre-clearance of voting laws states want to change, and one I’m not sure the Supreme Court can do — mandate standard funding for all pre-K to 12 students nationwide.