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Mr. Nice Guy

Here's an article about Chief Justice John Roberts of the US Supreme Court.

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/05/25/090525fa_fact_toobin

The swing of the court's views seems to be heading rightwards, whereas the rest of the US seems to be heading center to left. Is this dichotomy good...or bad?

In particular, the article focuses on Roberts extreme attention to the issue of race. On the one hand, I understand that to be truly free of racism, we need to not include race as a factor in any decision making (Roberts' view). But on the other hand, we all use race as a judging factor, whether consciously or subconsciously, and to ignore that would be to potentially deprive some people of the opportunities they otherwise would have deserved. It's a tough issue, but Roberts' take on this is somewhat troubling to me. What we don't want to see, is a ruling that might take us back to pre-Brown vs. Board days.

In my mind, the question is, if at some point the court's views differs too drastically from the majority of the people's, will the court become irrelevant?

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