Visualizing the Ideological History of SCOTUS

langelgjm writes "An interesting exercise in quantifying and visualizing ideological shifts, the website ScotusScores.com tracks changes in the ideological history of the US Supreme Court from 1937 to 2007. Ideological positions are quantified using Martin-Quinn scores, and the chart highlights the often-bumpy transitions (Thurgood Marshall to Clarence Thomas), as well as tendencies within each Justice's career."

Comments

Re:the Constitution is a Treaty

[jmorris42]

> The Constitution does not grant the Congress an explicitly enumerated power to regulate marriage.

No it doesn't. But it is still one of the more interesting questions the court will eventually have to settle. Both sides can make a strong originalist case. Observe:

The DOMA isn't about marriage per se, it is about clarifying the Full Faith and Credit clause in the Constitution. The word marriage has a specific meaning. Some states have suddenly decided (mostly by judicial fiat, but we now have some states which did it correctly) the word has a different meaning. If State A redefines a word that redefinition is not required to be accepted by State B. So just because two men are "Married" in Vermont does not mean West Virginia has to accept that their marriage laws have been redefined in ways that make a mockery of the purpose of those laws as understood in West Virginia.

The other side just has to mention that it wasn't too many years back that "Marriage" didn't include mixed race couples in quite a few states and the courts ruled that such a marriage was valid in every state. Right there you are most of the way to winning the argument. And Nevada was notorious for it's divorce laws. And marriages involving girls so young it would be statutory rape in most states wasn't illegal so long as you kept that marriage license handy. And finally, had not Utah not been required to renounce bigamy before admission to the Union their marriages would have almost certainly been legal nationwide.

So both sides can make a case, which way to rule? Most cases I can get on my soapbox and declare a winner. Can't on this one.

Re:Going to be more changes soon

[tverbeek]

I don't know Kennedy,* but unless he's an unusual lawyer, he probably loves being the swing vote. In effect it's like having the STAR chamber** for the prosecution, the weak-lefties for the defense, and he gets to listen to their arguments and decide the case. Or in cases where he already has a firm viewpoint on the subject, he can use his position in the middle to frame the terms of the decision. If he doesn't find that appealing, he should retire, because he's gotten tired of the Law.

*Insert Bentsen/Quayle joke here.
**Scalia, Thomas, Alito, Roberts