Inside Politics

Leftward drift

“On June 27, as the Supreme Court ended its term amid rampant speculation about 80-year-old Chief Justice William Rehnquist’s future, his 75-year-old colleague Sandra Day O’Connor was continuing to inch away from her ’conservative’ past,” Stuart Taylor Jr. writes in National Journal.

“In one of the two Janus-faced decisions on the Ten Commandments, the Reagan-appointed O’Connor positioned herself to the left of Clinton-appointed Justice Stephen Breyer. She voted (in dissent) to order removal of a Ten Commandments monument in Texas that he voted to save.

“Breyer wrote that court-ordered removal ’would, I fear, lead the law to exhibit a hostility toward religion that has no place in our Establishment Clause traditions.’”

“It was unusual to see Breyer associating O’Connor (among others) with hostility toward religion. But it has become increasingly common over the past two decades to see the woman who was once routinely (if misleadingly) labeled a member of the court’s conservative bloc siding with its four most liberal members. She has tipped many a 5-4 decision in their direction, including three big ones this year: the other Ten Commandments case; a decision expanding educational institutions’ liability for sex discrimination; and one overturning a death sentence because of blunders by the defense lawyer.

“O’Connor’s leftward drift helps account for the supposedly conservative Rehnquist court’s surprisingly liberal trend in recent years. So do the similar evolutions of Anthony Kennedy, another Reagan appointee, and John Paul Stevens, a once-moderate Ford appointee who is now the leader of the Court’s liberal bloc. Not to mention the emergence of David Souter as a liberal soon after his appointment by the first President Bush.”

The columnist said that for complex reasons, “Republican-appointed justices without ideological anchors tend to become more liberal over time.”

Strange bedfellows

Sen. Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat, loves to work with the senators he’s trying to oust, the New York Post reports.

Mr. Schumer leads the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, but he keeps cozying up to some of his top targets. Mr. Schumer signed on this spring to co-sponsor three bills authored by Sen. Rick Santorum, his top priority for Democrats to defeat.

Despite having hand-picked a pro-life Pennsylvania Democrat to challenge him, Mr. Schumer is backing Mr. Santorum’s tax, religious and investment initiatives.

Court threat

The Kansas Supreme Court says it will consider keeping schools closed because state legislators have failed to comply with the court’s demand that they spend more money on public schools.

Students are on summer break in Kansas and aren’t scheduled to return until August. However, if the Legislature doesn’t resolve the funding issue, the court could keep 445,000 students and 64,000 teachers and staff from returning to the classroom when the new school year starts.

The court’s order suggested it could even block spending on bond payments, leases and other financial obligations, the Associated Press reports.

Saturday marked the 11th day of a legislative special session called by Gov. Kathleen Sebelius to try to answer the court’s demand. Lawmakers worked through the day but adjourned for the holiday weekend without a solution.

Arnold’s hot issue

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has chosen the supposed threat of global warming as his next crusade.

“The debate is over,” he wrote in Britain’s Independent newspaper on Sunday. “We know the science. We see the threat posed by changes in our climate. And we know the time for action is now.”

Mr. Schwarzenegger, a Republican, did not mention President Bush, but called on “governments everywhere” to take joint action to combat climate change. He disputed Mr. Bush’s statement that the Kyoto treaty would have wrecked the U.S. economy.

Climate change is one of the major issues expected to be discussed at the upcoming Group of Eight summit at the Gleneagles resort in Scotland.

Mr. Schwarzenegger has vowed to make California a leader in the battle against global warming, calling on the state to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases while increasing use of renewable energy.

“Global warming threatens California’s water supply, public health, agriculture, coastlines and forests — our entire economy and way of life,” Mr. Schwarzenegger wrote.

Lying low

Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham, California Republican, canceled his annual appearance at a July Fourth pancake breakfast in his district yesterday to avoid a press frenzy involving the investigation of his financial dealings, the Associated Press reports.

The FBI raided Mr. Cunningham’s San Diego-area home last week as authorities intensified their investigation of the eight-term lawmaker.

The pancake breakfast was to have been Mr. Cunningham’s first public event since last month’s disclosure that he sold his previous home to a defense contractor for what may have been an inflated price. Organizers received word Sunday the congressman would not attend.

“We thought it would be a media frenzy as well as possibly a lot of people with different agendas and we didn’t want to distract from the spirit of the event,” said Cunningham spokesman Mark Olson.

The event seemed tailor-made for the former Navy “Top Gun” fighter pilot and Vietnam War ace: A flag-waving crowd dressed in red, white and blue cheered speeches by a Navy chaplain and a Boy Scout color guard and a rendition of Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA.”

Honoring Nancy

Hollywood jewelry designer Nolan Miller has fashioned a pin in honor of former first lady Nancy Reagan, which was introduced on cable shopping network QVC over the Fourth of July weekend.

Mr. Miller said Mrs. Reagan selected the design for the pin, which is a large red enamel rose with more than 140 individually set simulated rubies. “Red is her favorite color. She is thrilled,” he told viewers.

The introductory price was $53.68. Proceeds will be used to help fight Alzheimer’s, the disease that killed former President Ronald Reagan.

“I told her I was sorry the rose was not paveed in [genuine] rubies,” Mr. Miller said. “But she said, ’Who cares?’”

Of the 8,000 first lady rose rings available, two-thirds were ordered in the initial airing Sunday afternoon. Only about two-dozen of the matching earrings remained unsold as of late yesterday, a QVC customer service staffer said.

• Greg Pierce can be reached at 202/636-3285 or gpierce@washingtontimes.com.