Open Thread: Another Childish Slam at SCOTUS

April 3rd, 2012 10:03 AM

Today's starter topic: President Obama clearly isn't a believer in the phrase speak softly and carry a big stick. He took another angry shot at the Supreme Court yesterday, warning it not to throw out his dreadful health insurance law:

"And I'd just remind conservative commentators that, for years, what we have heard is, the biggest problem on the bench was judicial activism, or a lack of judicial restraint, that an unelected group of people would somehow overturn a duly constituted and passed law," Obama said.

"Well, this is a good example, and I'm pretty confident that this court will recognize that and not take that step," he said.

Once again, however, Barack Obama is peddling a distorted view of what conservatives actually think. Judicial activism refers to judges engaging in striking down laws and then engaging in their own legislating from the bench. A court which avoids judicial activism may indeed strike down all kinds of laws but only if they are unconstitutional.

Today's other topic: The University of Kentucky won its first NCAA championship since 1998, beating the University of Kansas 67-59. While many are giving the Wildcats their due, some are critical of UK coach John Calipari's "one and done" idea of recruiting players and keeping them on the team for a short period of time before they head to the NBA. On the other hand, considering that colleges themselves make hundreds of millions of dollars from their unpaid "student-athletes," isn't this system more fair to people who'd like to capitalize on their skills and bodies being at their top condition?