High Court Blunders & Blinders

It’s time to look anew at individual rights and to broaden our discussion of them to include where we have sometimes gone wrong in safeguarding those rights. This demands more than just questioning court nominees about stare decisis, important as that may be. This is a discussion for we, the people to be involved in. As we ponder the inroads the current high court is making into areas where it really has little writ to intervene, let’s wake up to the fact that its actions are tossing real Constitutionalism out the door, on both policy and process. I say this not to disparage. There is no place on earth I’d rather live.  But we have to remove our blinders, ideological and otherwise. We must learn the facts from a more responsible media, insist upon a judiciary that preserves human rights, demand results from Congress, and realize that each of us is responsible for doing our part.  Preserving our democracy is not a spectator sport. Being a part of preserving and enhancing it is everyone’s solemn obligation.

[Michael Copps leads the Media Democracy and Reform Initiative at Common Cause and served as a commissioner on the Federal Communications Commission from May 2001 to December 2011.]