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Hold on to Your Wallet


Even though John G. Roberts is not Diane Wood, the Bush Administration hopes that his short judicial tenure makes him appear to be a moderate. But, after some serious digging, a more comprehensive view of Republican judicial politics comes to light.

Nixon first promised to appoint a "strict constructionist" to the Court in 1968 while running for President. By 1972, we had William Rehnquist. However, after helping to organize the Federalist Society, Lee Lieberman embarked on a cautious strategy. Appoint Society-friendly members onto the DC Circuit Court of Appeals and then nominate him or her within a couple years to a Supreme Court vacancy. This was done every time after Sandra Day-O'Connor came aboard in 1981. (Reagan too, had promised to nominate a woman to the next vacancy.) But when Robert Bork was blocked in 1987, followed by Doug Ginsberg...Lieberman had to settle with Anthony Kennedy. She did pick non-DC Circuit judges in David Souter and Clarence Thomas, but resumed the trend with Roberts.

In fact, there is reason to think that Miguel Estrada was the planned nominee for the first vacancy. Roberts was merely the cover. But as Estrada refused to put in his name for reconsideration, now we have our new nominee: someone who just about anyone could have seen coming. But for those outside the conservative cognoscenti knowing how closely allied many of these jurists are is rather difficult.

But so far the Supreme Court is not deflecting as much attention as might be hoped. And while plenty of bad news awaits Bush in the future, the New York "Times" has a particularly ominous article about United Air Lines. Not because of potential scandals or Administration wrongdoing, but because there is reason to suggest that the little-known Pension Guaranty Benefit Corporation may be the hook for $10.1 billion in assets.

The article points out that the taxpayers must cover shortfalls when other contributor firms to the PGBC cannot meet the demands of defaulting pensions. This could create a "cascading effect" wherein each contributor firm would have less and less motivation to keep its pension fund and let go. Should this come to pass within the next year or so pensioners could find themselves a little thin in the wallet.

But if you think the national mood seems pissy now, just wait until more media outlets pick up on the distinct possibility that the American pension might become a thing of the past.
posted by Thomas at 9:41 PM 0 comments