The New York Times > Opinion > Editorial Observer: Imagining America if George Bush Chose the Supreme Court

The'>http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/18/opinion/18mon3.html?ei=5090&en=0504f5241c0098ea&ex=1255838400&partner=rssuserland&pagewanted=print&position=">The New York Times > Opinion > Editorial Observer: Imagining America if George Bush Chose the Supreme Court: "Imagining America if George Bush Chose the Supreme CourtBy ADAM COHEN
Abortion might be a crime in most states. Gay people could be thrown in prison for having sex in their homes. States might be free to become mini-theocracies, endorsing Christianity and using tax money to help spread the gospel. The Constitution might no longer protect inmates from being brutalized by prison guards. Family and medical leave and environmental protections could disappear.It hardly sounds like a winning platform, and of course President Bush isn't openly espousing these positions. But he did say in his last campaign that his favorite Supreme Court justices were Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, and the nominations he has made to the lower courts bear that out. Justices Scalia and Thomas are often called 'conservative,' but that does not begin to capture their philosophies. Both vehemently reject many of the core tenets of modern constitutional law.For years, Justices Scalia and Thomas have been lobbing their judicial Molotov cocktails from the sidelines, while the court proceeded on its moderate-conservative path. But given the ages and inclinations of the current justices, it is quite possible that if Mr. Bush is re-elected, he will get three appointments, enough to forge a new majority that would turn the extreme Scalia-Thomas worldview into the law of the land.There is every reason to believe Roe v. Wade would quickly be overturned. Mr. Bush ducked a question about his views on Roe in the third debate. But he sent his base a coded message in the second debate, with an odd reference to the Dred Scott case. Dred Scott, an 1857 dec"