The Hobby Lobby case voted on by the
Supreme Court, may have gone just like you
would’ve predicted.
Five justices appointed by Republican
Presidents voted along Republican party lines
and the four Democratic appointees voted along
Democratic lines.
The same thing happened
with voting rights, campaign finance reform, and
Arizona’s immigration law.
So, does that mean that the US Supreme
Court justices are biased?
Well, based on recent studies, it seems they
might be.
One study out of Washington University in St.
Louis showed that for the most part, justices vote
in favor of free speech issues that are in line with
the way they lean politically.
Most guilty is Justice Thomas, a conservative,
who has voted with conservative free speech
issues, like corporate personhood, 65.4% of the
time.
Likewise, he’s voted for liberal free speech
issues, like women’s rights, only 23.1% of the
time.
A gap of 42.3%.
That said, liberal justices like Ginsburg and
Stevens have also been found to vote for
liberal free speech issues with disproportionate
frequency.
Another study out of the University of Chicago
looked at the 20 “most significant Supreme Court
cases since 2000”.
They found that 98% of the
time Justices voted along party lines.
Which is an alarming statistic, especially when
you consider that Supreme Court bias is a fairly
new issue.
A study cited by the New York times found
that between 1790 and 1937, Justices voted
along party lines in only one case out of the 73
that they deemed important.
Experts also point out that prior to the last 25
years, justices switching political leanings once
appointed, was not uncommon -
the last instance being Justice Souter, who
was appointed by Republican President Nixon.
They also point out that it’s been more than 50
years since a Democratically appointed judge
consistently voted with conservatives.
So why is the supreme court so biased now?
It may have something to do with the increased
polarization of Washington
The current Congress is on track to become
the least productive in history.
And the judges
are closely tied to these parties.
Some may feel that they owe a lot of their
success to the party that eventually appointed
them, while others might be influenced by their
surroundings.
In the past, Supreme Court law
clerks, who work with the justices, were balanced
and non-partisan.
But over the last nine years, Justices
appointed by Republican presidents have hired
Republican leaning law clerks about 83% of the
time.
And Democrats have hired liberal leaning
law clerks about 66% percent of the time.
These are just a few examples showing
the current political climate in the Supreme
Court, but they do show indicate evidence of
bias.
Still, there have been recent exceptions,
specifically the 2012 Obamacare ruling in
which Republican leaning Chief Justice
Roberts voted with the more liberal side of
the bench.
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