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Struggling Against Majority Tyranny

Adam Cohen writes in today's New York Times about Alexis de Tocqueville's "Democracy in America", where in it he warns, "the greatest threat the United States faces is the tyranny of the majority".

Cohen points out that de Tocqueville "had great hopes for the judiciary. "The courts correct the aberrations of democracy," he wrote, and "though they can never stop the movements of the majority, they do succeed in checking and directing them." Tocqueville would not be surprised that the Supreme Court has limited the Bush administration's excesses in the war on terror - or that the administration has been eager to nominate justices with an expansive view of presidential power."

"He understood that the newest incarnation of despotism was likely to be ushered in by the "avowed lover of liberty" who is a "hidden servant of tyranny."

As Alito comes up for confirmation, keep in mind what our President's agenda is... to reduce the checks of the judiciary by appointing someone who would grant him expansive powers -- thus making the struggle against majority tyranny that much more difficult..

posted by Dave @ 5:28 PM