The "liberal" Supreme Court

A friend brought to my attention a recent editorial that appeared in the Times News criticizing the U.S. Supreme Court for its decision on the Arizona law requiring voters to show proof of citizenship.  The writer went on about the importance of protecting the election process, failing to note that the Arizona law had prevented thousands of American citizens from casting their ballots.

What caught my attention was the writer’s label of the Supreme Court as “liberal.”  The opinion in the Arizona case was written by Justice Scalia.  We have the most conservative Supreme Court since the early New Deal--pro-business, anti-labor, shaky on civil rights, hostile to environmental issues, terrible on civil liberties.  To call the Court liberal is bizarre.  To think of Scalia as “liberal” is mind-boggling.

I understand that the editorial writer, Ron Gower, has been the managing editor since the retirement of editor Bob Urban.