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About Those Recent Supreme Court Rulings.
How About a Conspiracy Theory?

A BUZZFLASH READER COMMENTARY

Call me "Sleepless in Washington State."

I'm not a conspiracy theorist, and I'm not very tolerant of conspiracy theorists. But this has been an upsetting week. Listen to this and then tell me if I'm over the top.

OK, let's say a friend asked me what I thought about the two latest prime-time Supreme Court decisions: upholding affirmative action at the University of Michigan, and striking down anti-sodomy laws in Texas.

I said I was reassured and encouraged. Maybe we're not headed down the tubes so fast after all. The Court is still in synch with the American mainstream.

Then he said, well, do you think it's just possible that the Supreme Court's ostensibly moderate decisions are an early manifestation of the Bush campaign's 2004 campaign strategy?

Huh?

-- Don't the Democrats always rally their voters on the issue of Supreme Court appointments? Aren't some voters a little scared of a Supreme Court moving too far right, out of the mainstream? How convenient for the Bush campaign to be able to neutralize that argument.

But you're saying the Bush people instructed the justices -- or maybe just Justice O'Connor -- to uphold affirmative action in Michigan? I thought the administration submitted an amicus brief on the other side -- to disallow consideration of race in the University's admissions processes.

-- And so it did. And maybe I wouldn't say instructing the justices, or any one of them, to go the other way. You'll never see any memo or minutes of a meeting. But there are lots of ways to do things in Washington D.C., as everyone knows. Think Karl Rove. A word or two at a cocktail party or a working lunch, that's all it took: Hey, just let people see that the Court is mainstream, even a bit to the left. Minorities will feel really good, and Dems citing the bogeyman of far-right Supreme Court domination will look foolishly alarmist. They'll show that the Court is not only mainstream, but independent. And they'll build the pressure to go for the whole enchilada after the election's in the bag.

Wait a minute. You mean the Court is helping the Bush administration appear centrist to help him out in the '04 election?

-- Think about it. Bush gets credit for sticking by his hard-right followers, but the Court decisions anger and energize them. They'll work harder to reelect him, so he can appoint someone really spooky after his reelection -- when, by the way, Rove & Co. hope to have won a more lopsided majority in both houses of Congress. That would mean no problem with a filibuster for a way-out appointment.

I thought O'Connor and/or Rehnquist were slated to retire this year. Does your theory explain why that's not happening? You think Rove & Co. actually asked them to stay on until after the election?

-- Let's put it this way. A message was sent, and a message was received.

OK, give me the big picture from the top.

-- Here it is: The Court moves leftward, to the center. Bush appears to move a bit to the center -- you'll be seeing it more and more -- as does Congress, on things like prescription benefits for seniors. Wind is taken out of the sails of the Dems' core issues. Lots of R's get elected to Congress on the surging W's coattails, enough to make a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate. Two justices leave the Court soon after the election. They sail to confirmation on a partisan vote, avoiding the rancorous battle that would happen if they left now; that might really energize the Left, and Karl Rove wouldn't want that, now would he?

Let's say you're right. There's still the economy, which could tank again, and the nasty situation in Iraq that could explode. Rove & Co. can't control everything...

-- But they can control how it all gets spun through Clear Channel and all its look-alikes.

So you think it's all over?

-- It's never all over 'til it's over. But if I'm right, remember: you heard it here first... 'Bye now.

My friend sailed off into the sunset. Days are warm, nights are quiet and cool. I wonder why I'm not sleeping well.

Peggy Bruton

A BUZZFLASH READER COMMENTARY