The Politics of SCOTUS, Prop 23, and the Minimum Wage

The Politics of SCOTUS

The media is fond of calling the current Supreme Court a “conservative court.”

Senior Counsel Hans Bader argues that this court isn’t actually particularly conservative.

“[The Court] rules against businesses more than the lower federal courts do, and its rulings have overturned thousands of criminal sentences, as I have explained at length elsewhere. (Click here for that article.) But to some left-wing reporters, it will always be a conservative court, simply because it does not issue liberal decisions all the time. To make them happy, the Supreme Court must not only issue liberal rulings, but it must also disregard any limits in those rulings in future cases, in order to stretch them as far as possible for ideological ends. Refusing to go to this extreme they define as ‘conservative.'”

Prop 23

If approved by California, Prop 23 will suspend the implementation of the California Global Warming Solutions Act (AB 32) until the unemployment rate drops.

Senior Fellow Marlo Lewis notes that AB 32 will be a devastating blow to the economy if implemented.

“The California Air Resources Board projects that AB 32 will decrease State-wide energy consumption by 4.5% in 2012 and 9.4% in 2020. Energy, of course, is used to support economic activity: ‘workers use energy to accomplish their tasks.'”

Minimum Wage

The Huffington Post says that the minimum wage debate is a “slam dunk” for Democrats.

Fellow in Journalism Studies Ryan Young explains that though there is overwhelming support for the minimum wage law, there is a debate to be had over its merits.

“Young people with little or no work experience may not be able to offer $7.25 per hour worth of productivity; no wonder so many of them are having trouble finding summer jobs. They have to be paid more than they are worth. Wage floors reduce the number of jobs”