General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Who nominated them, and how they voted... [View all]The Warren court was part of some truly exceptional courts and largely followed on the heels of the progressive movement that reigned from 1941-1969. Just like the New Deal period that preceded the Warren Court this should be understood as something of an aberration and something one really should not rely on happening again due to peculiar historical circumstances. Probably the most important factor among these is the progressive liberal but especially the socialist/communist movements as well as large scale union advocacy is dead, gone, and is likely never coming back. Without that kind of strong opposition using a radical, alternative model of society as a replacement you can expect more courts like the ones the Hughes court and Taney court.
It should be noted that this progressive renaissance only lasted about 28 years, actually ending before the Warren court itself ended, which is now less than the right wing resurgence now approaching forty years in duration. This should be extremely disturbing to leftists and should make one very weary of arguments that state the right wing will just naturally fade away. Not only are they here to stay, but they have essentially won as even Democrats argue on their terms and all indicators point to a -more- right wing society, -more- right wing policies, and -more- right wing supreme courts with the Democrats desperately trying to play defense but largely unable due to a total lack of alternative framework and an unwillingness of the Democratic leadership to build one.