Justice Stevens Calls His Opinions "Unwise"

Actually, Linda Greenhouse at The New York Times reports that the 85-year old justice calls the outcomes in Kelo and Raich "unwise."

What to make of this? This is probably little more than a subtle act of rhetorical damage control regarding the unpopular -- and incorrectly decided -- decisions where Stephens wrote the majority opinions in favor of expansive federal government power at the expense of individual rights (and the Constitution, which is designed to protect such).

This address will soon be forgotten. What is more relevant are the ramifications of the opinions at issue. Notwithstanding the age and health of the more nakedly statist judges, it seems that the high court will continue to lend its bureaucratic imprimatur to whatever excesses the other branches may engage in for many years to come (unless a "fundamental right" is newly minted by some foreign court, or a regulation that affects a "suspect classification" is challenged).

Democratic despotism is upon us here in America. How lamentable it is that there are no leaders today, from any quarter, who would dare stop the constitutional hemorrhaging. That the public gladly embraces its servitude makes the current state of American liberty all the more hollow.