Narrow Victories Move Roberts Court to Right

WP: ANALYSIS
Narrow Victories Move Roberts Court to Right
Decisions Ignore Precedent, Liberal Justices Contend
By Charles Lane
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, June 29, 2007; Page A04

The Supreme Court's decision overturning school desegregation policies in two U.S. cities yesterday culminates a fractious term in which the new Roberts court moved the law significantly to the right, legal analysts said.

In a series of 5 to 4 decisions this term, the court also upheld a federal ban on a late-term abortion procedure and gutted a key provision of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law. Along with yesterday's schools case, each of these decisions left open the possibility of more change in areas of the law on which the court had seemingly ruled definitively within the past decade.

"Conservatives got everything they could reasonably have hoped for out of the term," said Thomas C. Goldstein, a Washington lawyer who specializes in Supreme Court litigation. "The table is set, particularly if there are more changes in the court, for wholesale changes in constitutional law. There were some incremental steps, but they were in a distinct direction and a uniform direction."

The conservatives' advance was limited by the occasional defection of Justice Anthony M. Kennedy. Yesterday's case showed Kennedy's moderating influence, as he issued a concurring opinion that may have blunted the practical impact of the court's ruling.

Because of Kennedy's continued role as a swing voter, some analysts suggested that this term's decisions may be the high-water mark for the right rather than a tidal shift....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/28/AR2007062802389.html?hpid=topnews

They do not want activist judges.