Rather than await the decision on the Affordable Care Act, President Obama decided to attack preemptively with error-filled claims about the place of judicial review in our constitutional system. Judicial review springs from the duty of a court, when deciding a case before it, to enforce the Constitution over a conflicting act of Congress.

Elena Kagan's inability to understand the limited judicial role implied by the Constitution combined with her complete lack of experience, sparse academic writings, and deliberately evasive testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee makes her unfit to serve on the Supreme Court.

The shift away from lifetime judicial appointments might bring the Senate back to a more conventional--and constructive--partisan conflict.

McCain-Feingold, which is turning five years old, has strengthened parties, increased the numbers of small donors, and empowered challengers--all to the benefit of U.S. politics.

Democrats complained about difficulties that President Clinton faced in confirming judges; now Republicans are complaining about the delays faced by President George W.Bush.

The judicial confirmation process is a mess. There is no sign, anywhere, that it will get better.

The next president is almost certain to determine the direction of the Supreme Court and the lower federal courts for decades.

The full extent of the contemporary Court's dereliction at the structure front appears in sharpest relief against the purest structure court in American history: the Court of the Gilded Age.