[By HALC.us staff]
Why the choice of Justices sitting on the bench is vitally important …and how since they’re human too, they can royally eff it up for about 300 million other people.
In this writer’s personal opinion, the following are the top five worst rulings by the U. S. Supreme Court. This was quite a difficult task to undertake, as there has been so much from the Court that seems to fly in the face of what is “good,” “right” and Constitutional.
I will give a basic layman’s case breakdown, the Court’s decision and subsequent case history (as far as being contested further in the lower courts after being “reversed and remanded” or being overturned by subsequent U. S. Supreme Court cases. I will also give my “gems of reasoning” as to Constitutional issues and arguments that have been or will be quoted by legal scholars for decades to come.
[In case you’re interested in other people’s take on this subject, check here, here and here for other folks’ opinions as to the top five or ten U. S. Supreme Court decisions. My top five pretty much mirrored those reflected in these other instances. I got the idea for this article in light of the recent clamor over the Elena Kagan nomination for U. S. Supreme Court.]
*Per curiam means “by the court.” It’s a phrase used to distinguish the whole court’s opinion versus one judge’s opinion. Sometimes it denotes an opinion written by the Chief Justice or Presiding Judge, or to a brief announcement of the disposition of a case by court not accompanied by a written opinion.
**Slip opinion is the second version of an opinion which is sent to the printer later in the day on which the bench opinion is released by the Court. Each slip opinion has the same elements as the bench opinion–majority or plurality opinion, concurrences or dissents and a syllabus–but contains corrections not appearing in the bench opinion. Slip opinions are posted on this Website within minutes after the bench opinions are issued and remain posted until the opinions are published in bound volumes of the United States Reports.
