Legal Rights Curtailed During Rehnquist Era

Interesting article in the USA Today about Rehnquist's effect on the courts and our legal rights.

According to the USA Today, when Nixon was looking for a conservative Justice to fill a vacant seat on the Supreme Court, Rehnquist was "a Justice Department lawyer known for his disdain for Supreme Court rulings that he believed coddled criminal defendants."

The USA Today continues:

"As Republican presidents made appointments that eventually gave conservatives a slim majority on the nine-member court, Rehnquist helped transform a bench focused on the rights of the poor and disenfranchised into one that sought to leave society's problems to elected legislators.

Rehnquist's court reduced protections for criminal defendants, curtailed Congress' power in local affairs and generally diminished the Supreme Court's presence in American life."

So that is the legacy of William Rehnquist. And now we appear to be continuing in that direction with Chief Justice Roberts and Nominee Samuel Alito.

Who will stand up for the rights of the legal rights of the little guy?