THIS WEEK'S PAULINE KAEL AWARD:

Spoonfuls of Sugar: Americans' continued love affair with the John Roberts Court (Dahlia Lithwick, Sept. 26, 2009, Slate)

Fifty percent of Americans currently believe the court is neither too liberal nor too conservative; that's up from 43 percent last year. And the number of Americans who believe the court is too conservative has dropped from 30 percent to 19 percent.

All this lavish new public affection for the court's moderation came the same week the court was hearing a hugely important case that may dismantle a long-standing system of campaign finance restrictions—including a ban on direct federal campaign spending by corporations that has existed for a century. But the issue in Citizens United v. Federal Elections Commission, is not limited to the constitutionality of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance reform law. The reason court-watchers got themselves so worked up about this case is that it squarely tests Chief Justice John Roberts' stated commitments to preserving precedent, deference to the elected branches, and issuing narrow rulings instead of sweeping ones.

Oral argument in the Citizens United case revealed that the court's five conservatives feel nothing but contempt for campaign finance regulations that demonize corporations, restrict core political speech, and—to quote the chief justice—"put our First Amendment rights in the hands of FEC bureaucrats." Trying to square the tone of that argument with the Gallup pole results of the same week requires ignoring either one or the other almost entirely.

Because, as is obvious to anyone in Ms Lithwick's social milieu, the majority of Americans can't be contemptuous of the CFR regime.

[Of course, the problem with the specific case is that the Court will show deference to precedent instead of to the Constitution.]

Posted by Orrin Judd at September 26, 2009 7:43 AM