I am increasingly convinced that the myth that men can be objective and impartial is at the core of many of our political problems.

"I'm not a god, but I get to play one in my court..."

mike:

something the Founders well understood:

http://www.brothersjudd.com/blog/archives/004934.html

If Breyer had been with the five instead of the four back in 2000, this statement would be the subject of special editions of newspapers and bulletins in the middle of regular network programming today.

RE "If Breyer had been with the five instead of the four back in 2000, this statement would be the subject of special editions.."

Not really. Go read the decision. The court ruled 7-2 that the Florida supremes had acted unconstitutionally by ignoring or inventing state election law. The 5-4 vote was on the narrower question whether to halt the recount -- which subsequent inspections by the WaPo, NYT, and AP indicated Bush would have won anyway. Gore lost. Get over it.

Axel - Actually, the 5-4 was over whether to give the Florida court another chance to re-write Florida law in a manner in accord with the U.S. Constitution. Any new recount would have had to start over from the beginning after the new Florida laws governing the recount were created by the Florida Court.

To elaborate: While Breyer may have been on the winning side of the 7-2 vote, he was with the minority on the 5-4 vote, so his statement questioning his own impartiality will only be a one-day story in the media. Had Breyer been on the winning side in BOTH votes, or had the statement come from Rhenquist, Sclaia, Thomas, Kennedy or O'Connor, you would have seen the media pump this story for all it's worth from now until Election Day under the heading "Justice Admits Partisan Bias in Bush Recount Decision."