George H.W. Bush's single worst decision is also his most lasting legacy

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

A quarter century ago, America was approaching a consensus regarding how our Constitution should be read.

To be sure, contentious issues such as affirmative action and abortion remained, but these issues were relatively marginal compared to the nation-defining questions that dominated much of the twentieth century. No one outside of a small lunatic fringe still argued, in 1991, that the federal ban on whites-only lunch counters is unconstitutional. There was no serious risk that the Supreme Court would dismantle the Voting Rights Act. Or that the Court would strike down basic labor protections such as the minimum wage.

All of that changed after the late President George H.W. Bush placed Justice Clarence Thomas on the Supreme Court.

Justice Thomas may be the most underestimated person in American law. As I wrote last June, “no justice did more to shape a political movement’s sense of what it can achieve through litigation.” Thomas is quiet on the bench and has minimal influence on his colleagues, but he’s had a tremendous influence on the conservative legal movement.

His plans to dismantle the federal administrative state now dominate both the Federalist Society and the Trump administration. His opinions suggesting that much of the New Deal and the Great Society are unconstitutional taught a generation of conservative law students to dream of a world where every law they disagree with is struck down by the Supreme Court. At least six of Trump’s federal appellate nominees are former Thomas clerks.

https://thinkprogress.org/george-h-w-bushs-clarence-thomas-legacy-15f1441050c4/?fbclid=IwAR0y8km7gFhSwhA86lSP2x3WjRe-tHox6Ym-tnkNsf1Wb0nUmBI-envtY7k

[Hortensis]

1. "At least six of Trump's appellate nominees are former Thomas clerks."

Interesting note and article, thanks. Fwiw, I don't see Thomas as a driver of change, but more as a power tool.

Did GHWB see, and comply with, a dreadfully unworthy Thomas as the most recent installment in an extreme right (compared to the orientations of the vast majority of Americans) takeover of the Supreme Court? There was nothing unknown to a man in Bush's position about the ongoing plot Thomas's appointment served. Did he believe it was necessary, did he imagine it would go as far as it has, did he trust the people to keep it from going too far? ?

I do believe he could not have foreseen back then a Republican Party so extremely corrupt and degraded that it would put a Kavanaugh on the court. Even if now we see an obvious progression between the two.

[gratuitous]

2. Now is that nice?

We're supposed to be remembering just the good stuff about GHWB. I'm not sure why, just that that's the way it's supposed to be from now until some unspecified time in the future, probably when nobody cares about Bush or his political career and its atrocious effect on so many millions of people.

[Solly Mack]

3. :)

Thank you.

[Polybius]

4. He also gave us a solid liberal in Souter

Souter retired way too young.

[ZZenith]

5. Was certain this would be about impregnating Barbara.