Scalia is a douchbag

I found this in the comments to this huffingtonpost thread - Scalia: "The Election Was Dragged Into The Courts By The Gore People. We Did Not Go Looking For Trouble"...:

Scalia did far more that go looking for trouble. He and his buddies re-fashioned the facts of the case with their order stopping the vote-counting.

You have to understand what the law of injunctions are. A judge can order an injunction when:
(a) one party
(b) will suffer harm
(c) that is greater than the harm to be suffered by the other party
(d) and that cannot be repaired in any way other than an injunction.

So ask yourself, what is the "harm" that the injunction was designed to prevent?

Scalia wrote, in supporting the injunction, that the harm would be to the legitimacy of the Bush presidency. This reason fails completely the test for granting an injunction because:

(a) The "harm" to Bush is not one that is cognizable by the judicial branch. The "legitimacy" of an election is not a tangible harm; it's at most a political phrase.

(b) The "legitimacy" of a presidency hangs upon the vote count itself. If the vote count went against Bush, he would have no presidency and therefore no legitimacy.

(c) The other party (Gore) has a much stronger harm involved: actually getting the office of President.

(d) Any harm to the "legitimacy" of Bush's presidency caused by a recount could easily be repaired ... simpy by counting the votes. No injunction was needed.

The injunction stopping the vote was illegal on one more grounds: it changed the amount of time available to perform the count.

The shortness of time to count the vote was cited as a major factor in the ultimate decision a few days later. The majority in that case neglected to mention that the reason the time was short was their own injunction.

The five judges who ordered the injunction violated their oaths of office, and deserve to be whipped out of the court. History will not be kind to them.

Posted by: rewinn on November 22, 2005 at 10:41am

Oh yeah, and apparently dumbass Scalia can't read - it was Bush v. Gore - therefore it was Bush (plaintiff) who took it to the SC.