Free Market Carnivore's Blog

It is an interesting turn of events that just when confirmation hearings on a new Supreme Court justice are going on, the current Supreme Court issues a ruling on an issue of long-term concern to cattlemen, especially those along the border in Texas, Arizona and California.

 For the two years leading up to the last presidential election, we continued to remind people that who the president is has long lasting consequences beyond his personal term of office in the members of the Supreme Court he leaves behind.  The vote ruling that Second Amendment gun rights apply to an individual citizen of any state, whether he resides in Malta or Chicago was welcome news to gun rights advocates.  And at least the ranchers along the border who rely on their weapons as a last-ditch survival tool won’t have to worry about their right to arm themselves.  Can’t you just envision a class action lawsuit brought by some illegal alien defense organization suing some rancher because really, only the militia have a right to bear arms!  At least we’ve closed that door.

 But think about it.  It has take over 220 years to clarify the simple Constitutional phrase, “the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”  Over 220 years… so simple a phrase.  And even then, the vote was 5-4.  That’s a pretty narrow margin. 

 So far, those who believe the Constitution should govern our country have been lucky.  President Obama’s lefty nominees have replaced other lefty justices.  Imagine where our freedoms would be if President Bush had not been able to get Roberts and Alito confirmed?

 There are other aging justices.  Which is another reason this fall’s election is so critical.  More conservative members of the Judiciary Committee mean more ways to pressure President Obama into more moderate nominees or to block additional radical nominees selected for their liberal ideology or minority/gender representation rather than respect for the Constitution that makes us the United States of America.

 The future of animal agriculture will rest in large part in the coming years on Supreme Court interpretations of private property rights, the Endangered Species Act and environmental laws.  As it is, the Supreme Court handed a bludgeon to the EPA regarding greenhouse gases and the Clean Air Act.  And the president and EPA wasted no time preparing us for a beating.  That’s why presidents – who shape Supreme Courts – matter greatly to our freedoms.