One yr ago, SC shot down Lilly Ledbetter

I picked this one up from Crooks & Liars yesterday - a few days ago, the one-year anniversary passed where our conservative Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision authored by Bush appointee Samuel Alito, handed down a decision that makes it much more difficult for people (women) to sue for pay discrimination, even if they discover it much later in their careers, like Ledbetter did. Translation: Women, who have been getting the short end of the stick as far as wages go in this country since before the Industrial Revolution, will almost certainly continue getting screwed in their paychecks, for doing the exact same work as men.

From C&L:

Lilly Ledbetter faced years of pay discrimination, but she only learned about it late in her career. Thanks to an anonymous tip, she learned she was being paid far less than her men doing the same job. She sued and won back pay. But Goodyear didn't give up and was finally rewarded by the Supreme Court, which ruled in an opinion by Alito that workers must sue within 180 days of the initial decision by an employer to pay a discriminatory wage - even if they don't learn of it until later and their pay is still lower as a result. That's ludicrous.

(We sat down with Lilly last year, and she told us about her case and the discrimination she faced - watch the videos here.)

Democrats attempted to undo the damage by passing new legislation, but Senate Republicans blocked it last month. McCain opposed it and has been loudly singing the praises of Alito and his fellow right-wing justices. He evidently thinks pay discrimination is a winning issue.

After watching the video above, and it's pretty evident where McCain stands on the performance of Chief Justice John Roberts and Alito - he wants more of them. How else could one explain his support for Ledbetter v. Goodyear, a truly absurd and asinine decision by the court?

The importance of selecting our next president cannot be overstated for a laundry list of reasons, but count the Supreme Court near the top of my list. Our next president, if he or she serves two full terms, will likely appoint at least three Supreme Court justices, and quite possibly more. These appointment will shape the court for decades to come. In the next few years, there will be very important decisions made on abortion, civil rights, affirmative action, etc. Hopefully many things are taken into consideration by voters before deciding which candidate to vote for, but I certainly hope that impending retirements on the Supreme Court factor very heavily in voters' minds in the voting booth. It should.

Regarding the footage above, good for the 14-year old girl who stood up to McCain.

I'd be remiss if I didn't share the big laugh I had over the crowd cheering and whistling when McCain took pot shots at lawyers. I wonder if half of these morons realize that lawyers put Bush in the Oval Office in the first place. I'm no apologist for some of the ambulance chasers we have in the legal profession in this country, but there are many excellent lawyers who do excellent work, too. Count some voters' ignorant hatred for lawyers as just another element of intolerance that the Republican Party takes advantage of in elections. I remember quite well Bush mocking John Edwards during the '04 election about tort reform; of course, the Kerry campaign let him get away with it. Many people hate lawyers, until they need one.

Like Bush did in 2000.