The Blog Formerly Known As Vote '08

Are you smarter than the Republican Vice-Presidential candidate?

Apparently, if you can name more than one Supreme Court case, the answer is yes.

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This is devastating, & should be cause for concern among Palin fans.

Also, conservatives may - what am I saying, DO differ - with her stance on whether or not there’s a right to privacy inherent in the Constitution, as the conservative blogger Amygdala points out:

“Of course, if the inherent right to privacy is in the Constitution of the U.S., then determining how it plays out is not up to the individual states, or the will of the people. She’s directly contradicting herself. Either it’s up to the states and the people, and the right isn’t in the Constitution, or vice versa. It can’t be the way she stated it.”

Think I’m being unfair? Read another criticism that says

“I cannot imagine a conservative watching this video without wincing. I just can’t.”

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There are also other cases that are wildly unpopular on the right, and which she might have known about — e.g., Kelo v. City of New London (pdf). Likewise, cases like Exxon v. Baker (pdf), which she had to deal with as governor, and commented on at the time. (And “at the time” means last June, when it was handed down.) (h/t)

This isn’t about being a legal scholar. It’s about being able to come up with one single example, when there are a lot of separate reasons why you ought to be able to.”

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At the end of the day, though, the story isn’t Palin’s ignorance, or the fact that she is manifestly not prepared to be President. It’s McCain’s shocking recklessness in nominating her in the first place.

No one who put country first would have done that.”

The Supreme Court is the head of one of the three branches of government - the other two being legislative (Congress) & executive (the White House).

The legislative branch writes the laws.

The executive branch carries out the laws.

The judicial branch (Supreme Court) decides whether or not those laws conform with the U.S. Constitution.

The founding fathers created a system of government in which these three branches have checks & balances over each other.

Whoever is president can appoint justices to the Supreme Court.

Congress holds the power of approval over those Supreme Court nominees.

Once a Supreme Court justice is approved by Congress, they can serve on the court for life - something no other member of the other two branches can do (they must be re-elected by voters every 2, 4, or 6 years).

So as you can see, the Supreme Court is an extremely important branch of government, & the rulings from the high court have been extremely consequential over our nation’s history.

If you’re interested in knowing some of those consequential rulings, I found a good site that quickly runs through them. Click here to improve your civic knowledge.

What do you think?

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