The  Four Kangaroo Koup

To answer my question from yesterday: Yes, the Kangaroo Kourt has absolutely invited the U.S. Supreme Court to spank their asses again, and hard this time.  I'm not going to analyze their decision in depth  -- there are plenty of articles that do so on the weblog, and I will surely post more over the next few days.  But I will say that in the number of years I've been reading state court cases that deal with federal issues, I have never seen a more activist -- or more partisan -- decision rendered by a state's highest court (number two is this Kangaroo Kourt's first decision in this mess).  This is far worse than the first decision because the Four Kangaroos in the majority on this Kourt completely disregarded a Supreme Court per curiam decision vacating their original decision and remanding for clarification, and simply reasserted their first decision, absent explanation, and then went even further, introducing new questions of equal protection, legislative and executive usurpation, and conflict with the Constitution and Federal Statutes (now the Voting Rights Act even comes into play).  Until today, I have never seen a state's highest court willing completely to ignore a U.S. Supreme Court ruling.  This group of Four Kangaroos did just that today.  What is even more amazing is that it is clear from this opinion that the Four Kangaroos (likely led by Kangaroo Pariente -- once rumored to be a potential Clinton Supreme Court nominee!) wrote this decision days before it was released, given the degree of detail and statutory (mis or de?)construction.  And as an aside, given the obvious amount of time spent on it, it is depressingly poorly written, rife with grammatical errors and mistakes in style; the first Kangaroo opinion proved they can't write, but this one really seals the deal!

The dissenting opinions were not quite so poorly written, and were blistering, with the Chief Kangaroo blasting his brethren with virtually unprecedented hostility.  I think the minority Kangaroos understood quite clearly the meaning of the earlier Supreme Court decision that the majority Kangaroos simply ignored.  Watch for the real Supreme Court to make its position unmistakably clear to the majority Kangaroos.

Meanwhile, I still see no scenario by which AlGore actually sits in the oval office.  The Florida legislature is not going to permit the judiciary to decide this election in a judicial coup and will (in my opinion unnecessarily) reaffirm the Bush slate of electors, Bush's electors have already been certified by the state of Florida and signed by the Governor, making that slate definitive by statute despite what the Kangaroo Kourt may order, and Congress (not any Kourt in the land) is the ultimate arbiter of which slate of electors to accept.  Thus, the real endgame emerges: even though AlGore may be delusional enough to think he will sit in the oval office, other Democrats know better, and are engaged in a despicable attempt to delegitimize the coming Bush Presidency and, at the same time, boost their chances to take over Congress in 2002.  Who cares if they wreck the stock market, send us into recession, and permanently damage the American electoral system in the process?

<<<<   MAIN   >>>>