The New York Review of Books has an in-depth article on the recently-published NINE: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court.

Reviewer Anthony Lewis offers commentary ranging from praise for author Jeffrey Toobin to thought-provoking observations on the Religious Right, George W. Bush and scary times. Below are succinct excerpts but if you have the time, read every excellent word at http://www.nybooks.com/articles/20899

“It seems to me a crucial insight of Toobin's that liberals were not only outgunned on the issue of appointments to the Supreme Court —indeed, they really did not fight.

“Any voter who wanted to preserve the constitutional right to abortion or affirmative action should have known that their survival might depend on the result of the presidential elections in 2000 and 2004. But the Democratic candidates hardly raised the subject.

“George W. Bush fit the conservative judicial campaign perfectly. As governor of Texas he indicated that judicial niceties were not at the top of his concerns.

“A study by the Chicago Tribune, published in June 2000, showed that he had refused clemency in all 131 death cases that had reached him. (Alberto Gonzales was legal counsel to Governor Bush and provided memoranda on clemency petitions.)

“Bush explained that the defendants had had "full access to a fair trial." In a third of those cases the lawyer who represented the defendant at trial or on appeal had been or was later disbarred or otherwise sanctioned.

“As a candidate in 2000 Bush said he would have no litmus test on court nominees but would put "competent" judges on the bench. Five years later, when Justice O'Connor retired and Chief Justice William Rehnquist died, giving Bush his first vacancies to fill on the Supreme Court, "’he had a very different agenda for his nominees,’" Toobin says:

“The messianic nature of his presidency—Bush's conception of his time in office as a moment of dramatic change for the world—affected his judicial nominations as much as it did his decisions on the Middle East.

“Through a combination of the staff he selected, the political strategy underlying his reelection, and his own personal evolution, Bush now sought transformative appointees, justices who would move the Court sharply and immediately to the right.”

And, if we haven’t figured that out, Toobin makes it painfully clear that in the virtual blink of an eye, that is exactly what GWB has accomplished.

Which is one more BIG reason we must elect Democrats to the Presidency, to the Senate and to the House!