Are conservatives winning the battle but losing the war?

Their short-term political victories may bring them long-term electoral pain

Rep. Michele Bachmann
(Image credit: Mark Wilson/Getty Images)

Last week, the Supreme Court struck down DOMA and dismissed California's Proposition 8, and also disemboweled nearly 50 years of Voting Rights Act protections for minorities. The Washington Post's E.J. Dionne gloomily saw this latter development as a symbol of conservatives' inexorable progress in scoring long-game victories in cases such as the court's Citizens United decision, which wiped out 100 years of campaign-finance law precedent.

Recall that when conservatives did not have a clear court majority, they railed against '"judicial activism." Now that they have the capacity to impose their will, many of the same conservatives defend extreme acts of judicial activism by claiming they involve legitimate interpretations of the true meaning of the Constitution. It is an inconsistency that tells us all we need to know. This is not an argument about what the Constitution says. It is a battle for power. And, despite scattered liberal triumphs, it is a battle that conservatives are winning. [Washington Post]

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up
To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us

Joe Gandelman is a syndicated columnist for Cagle Cartoons and is the editor of The Moderate Voice blog.