So it’s official: Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens is retiring, effective at the end of the current Court term, which means a new Justice needs to be confirmed before the October term convenes.
As I noted when Stevens’ retirement became likely, there are two ways Democrats can react to this news.
We can go through the certain Court fight ahead in a half-hearted and distracted way, hoping to get back to “real” issues like financial reform. Or we can take advantage of the opportunity a Court fight presents to expose the extraordinary radicalism of the contemporary conservative movement and its captives in the GOP, best illustrated by its views on the Constitution.
An aggressive and proactive strategy for this fight is in my opinion the right way to go; it will help raise the stakes for the midterm elections for lukewarm Democratic voters, while also casting the choice in November as one between two futures rather than a referendum on a very unpopular status quo in Washington.
So let’s get the game on!