Cornel West: Barack Obama Pushes Blacks to Back of Bus in Favor of Gays

Speaking truth to power:

Cornel West praised the Supreme Court’s ruling last week on gay marriage, but lamented that “we black folk are just being pushed to the back of the bus in terms of our visibility.”

Speaking on his radio show with co-host Tavis Smiley, the Democrat made the case that while the court’s decision advanced the rights of gay couples, it hindered the rights of blacks by striking down part of the Voting Rights Act.

“We’re living in an age where we black folk are just being pushed to the back of the bus in terms of our visibility,” Mr. West said, “of our suffering in terms of the intensity of our exclusion, especially our poor black youth, especially with the new Jim Crow and so on. And we have to be honest about that. Again this has something to do of course with what history books will say.

“The irony of the age of Obama in which black folks found themselves pushed to the back, our gay brothers and lesbian sisters more and more pushed to the center,” he added.

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Liberals Go Crazy Over Supreme Court Easing Campaign Finance Rules

I don't know if this is a victory for conservatives so much as another display of how much power Justice Another Kennedy yields from the bench. With 4 decided conservatives (Roberts, Alito, Scalia & Thomas) on one side and 4 liberals (Ginsburg, Stevens, Breyer & Sotomayor) on the other, Kennedy remains SCOTUS' swing vote and more often than not, he sides with the conservatives. That said, considering the billions Barry got for his own Presidential campaign I don't know what he's complaining about here. Then too with all the rage liberals are hurling at this decision, I'm sure a majority of them would love nothing more than for something to happen to Kennedy soon so Barry can replace him with another "leftist stalwart".

Justice Sonia Sotomayor Makes Her Debut Today

CSMonitor.com:

Transition is the word that perhaps best describes the US Supreme Court's 2009-10 term set to begin Monday.

The coming year offers an opportunity for court watchers to more clearly define the character of the emerging Roberts Court during Chief Justice John Roberts's fifth term on the bench. And it presents a chance far superior to the wishy-washy Senate confirmation hearings to finally learn something of the real Sonia Sotomayor, the high court's newest justice.

Will she be a liberal stalwart or a sometimes ally to the conservatives? If so, in which cases?

The term already includes potential blockbuster cases examining the applicability of Second Amendment gun rights to state and local governments, campaign-finance regulations, life sentences for juveniles, and whether Congress violated the separation of powers when it created an independent accounting oversight board.

The court's options will reveal more than just legal winners and losers. How these disputes are analyzed and decided by the justices will offer legal scholars important clues about the evolving dynamics within the nation's highest court.

In addition to the arrival of a new justice, Justice John Paul Stevens's decision to hire only one law clerk (instead of the usual four) for the 2010-11 term has sparked speculation that he intends to leave the court in June.

Among key trends to watch will be whether Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito decide to put an unabashedly conservative stamp on the high court by joining their conservative colleagues to boldly overturn liberal legal precedents despite earlier pledges of a preference for judicial minimalism.

Personally, I think that Sotomayor will play it down the line, 50/50, which will keep folks guessing while not leaning any particular way. Good chance that Obama will get at least more chances to make appointments to SCOTUS, what with Stevens likely retiring soon and Ginsburg being sick of late. But the key is Anthony Kennedy, he's the swing vote. If Barry gets to replace Kennedy, the court could then take on a dramatic shift that liberals would be drooling over.