Scalito's Freudian Slip

Frist & Alito made a Freudian slip today. They went by to view Rosa Parks' body as it lay in state at the Capitol, a day after Bush did the same.

Set aside the hypocrisy of these three Whites who rose to power on the wave of Southern backlash that accompanied the long overdue extension of basic civil and voting rights to African Americans. Bush, Rove, Frist, DeLay, the Rehnquist/Roberts Court -- none of them would be where they are except for the switch of White Southerners to the Republican Party, in the wake of civil rights.

But for today, focus on the Freudian slip. By recognizing the power and dignity of Rosa Parks and her movement, Bush & Frist & Alito put the lie to their whole "strict constructionist" rap. Why?

Because if FDR had not broken the back of the strict constructionists with the Warren Court, the movement that owes so much to Rosa Parks would have been stymied.

The U.S. Constitution and the strict constructionists gave us Plessy v. Ferguson, and "separate but equal." It was the Warren Court, those justices who believed in justice over ideology, who believed in a living Constitution rather than a false "strict construction" -- these so-called "activist judges" broke the back of segregation with Brown v. Board of Education. Dr. King, Rosa Parks, SCLC & SNCC built from there, and changed the world.

By going for a photo-op with Rosa Parks, Bush & Frist & Alito impugn the legacy of strict constructionism without saying so, and inadvertently validate the history of the Warren Court.

America is a better country because of Rosa Parks -- and because the strict constructionists' hold on the Supreme Court was broken by FDR & HST. A history lesson we should consider...