But, Facially, Antonin Scalia is a shithead

I'd wager that about 99.9% of the general population couldn't tell you what a "facial" Constitutional challenge or an "as applied" Constitutional challenge are, let alone the difference. And yet the Reagan/Bush/Bush Supreme Court have been using that under-the-radar distinction to take away our civil rights.

Their target yesterday was our right to vote. You'll recall that they beat that right senseless in Bush v. Gore, but ostensibly left it alive and chained up in the basement, for Karl Rove and his politicized Justice Department to go down and ass-rape when they got the urge.

But now, in Crawford, they're bringing that poor battered right back up into the storeroom to give it the knock-out punch.

In short, it appears that there is a majority on the Court who would say that a law that unconstitutionally deprives a citizen of the right to vote cannot be challenged until after an actual voter has had their right denied. Which means after the election has been completed. When there would never be calls to "move on", "get over it", don't be a "Sore/Loserman", etc.

At that point, as Justice Ginsberg pointed out, the vindication of the right is hollow and meaningless. To say nothing of the chilling effect that these unconstitutional laws have before the election, when they have their (desired by the Republican majority who passed them) effect of scaring voters into staying home.

And this isn't the first time the Reagan/Bush/Bush justices have pulled this stunt. It's become their modus operandi when it comes to eviscerating Constitutional/Civil/Private rights. It came into play in the Gonzales v. Carhart "partial birth abortion" case, in which the Court said that a women denied her physician-recommended intact D&E procedure could just mosey over to the Yellow Pages and find a lawyer to bring an "as applied" suit. And if the State (supported as always by the Bush DOJ) bottled the case up until the women died in childbirth or through an unquestionably riskier D&C procedure, oh well. The case is moot.

It's amazing that these fuckers have any time amidst their constant fucking of us to think up new ways to fuck us harder.

But there's no difference between the political parties, right Ralph Nader? Fuck you too.