Uppity Wisconsin

Justice Diane P. Wood is drawing attention as a leading candidate to fill the first vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Wood is famous in some circles (especially in Wisconsin) for her judicial equivalent of voiced disgust shown towards Stephen Biskupic, former U.S. Atty for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, who launched several political prosecutions during his tenure with the Bush administration's Department of Justice, including the repulsive political prosecution of an innocent woman, Georgia Thompson.

Wood was nominated to serve as an appellate judge by President Clinton and confirmed in 1995.

As Mark Pitsch notes in a State Journal piece in 2007 [largely an it's-not-what-Biskupic-did-that-really-matters piece]:

Georgia Thompson, a state purchasing agent for Doyle's Department of Administration, was indicted in January 2006 and convicted six months later in the midst of a heated gubernatorial election.

Several Supreme Court (SC) justices will likely retire or pass away in the next eight years and replacements will be appointed by a President Obama or McCain.

The composition of the SC will bear directly on the legally protected liberty (and the related capacity to pursue happiness) of our fellow citizens.

Do you like the choice to decide whether to have a baby? Like feeling secure and safe in your home and person away from the prying eyes of police? Like the fact that if you are arrested you get to contest in a court the rationale behind your arrest? Like sharing consensual intimacy with whom you choose. Of course you do. Guarantees exist to protect your liberty. You are a person with rights.

One fact of American society is that a mass movement for authoritarianism flourishes, dedicated or indifferent to the diminishment of rights and liberties.

Knowing which justices hold a high regard for the liberty interest of Americans, and knowing which type of justices in this regard a President Obama (high on liberty) and a President McCain (hostile to liberty) will appoint, some facts are listed below to take into account when you consider contributing your time and money to Obama in these last days of the campaign.

Update II: Supreme Court pushes the gun issue back to the forefront of the nation's agenda
Update: Candidates React to Supreme Court’s Gun Ruling
via mal contends - The Supreme Court reinterpreted the Second Amendment in its landmark decision, District of Columbia v. Heller (07-290), and found a right to own and carry a handgun.  

That's okay with me. I like the result.

Quote from ScotusBlog: