The Ongoing War on Consumer Safety

You may or may not be aware, but last week Congress passed legislation that removes multi-state class action lawsuits into the jurisdiction of the federal court system. And DUIHbya(TM) broke nearly all speed records signing into law.

Let's think about this for a minute, shall we?

Point One: For the last 25 years, Rebublicans have controlled the White house for all but 8 of them. I don't know the exact figures, but during that time probably more than a thousand judges have been appointed to the federal bench, including 8 supreme court justices, six of them appointed by Republicans.

Point Two: In the 8 years the Democrats controlled the White House, Republicans controlled the congress for 6 of them. They blocked dozens of Federal judicial appointments put forth by President Clinton.

Point Three: Republicans will continue to control both houses of congress for at least the next two years, and they will control the White House for the next four years (or longer, God forbid!) Over that time period, probably a hundred or more federal judges will be appointed, including, more than likely, at least one and possibly as many as four Supreme Court Justices.

Point Four: Federal Judicial postings are "for life". The only way a federal judge can lose his position is through blatant judicial misconduct. I'm guessing that doesn't happen very often.

So what does this all boil down to? Simple. It means that our federal court system is currently packed with conservative judges. The type of judges who are unlikely to be favorably disposed towards plaintiffs in class action lawsuits.

Add in the fact that the federal court docket is already heavily overloaded. And now there will be even more cases on the courts.

So, to make a long story short (I know, too late!), this means that American consumers who are injured or otherwise harmed by defective and/or dangerous consumer goods are now far less likely to be able to seek redress through the legal system.

In other words, Big Business got exactly what it wanted, from the government they bought and paid for.

God help us all.