Whither the Supreme Court?
As the country waits in fear and loathing
for the high tribunal to drop the dime on Obamacare and give its
blessings to Arizona’s “papers please” immigration law, court watchers
might do well to parse the damage Chief Justice John Roberts and his
colleagues have already done this term to our collective rights and
liberties.
With more than 70 cases on its total docket
and more than a dozen still undecided, including the health care and
Arizona blockbusters, it’s difficult to single out the opinions issued
to date that best illustrate the court’s hard turn to the right. But
here are three that should make any short list:
Florence v. Board of Chosen Freeholders, County of Burlington
In March 2005, Albert Florence, a
34-year-old African-American car dealership executive, was riding in the
passenger seat of his SUV. His pregnant wife was at the wheel and the
couple’s three children were nestled in the back when a New Jersey state
trooper pulled the vehicle over for speeding. The trooper ran a routine
records check on a statewide computer database, which disclosed that
Florence had an outstanding arrest warrant for nonpayment of a fine
stemming from his arrest seven years earlier after he had fled the scene
of a traffic stop.
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