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Why Did Obama Vote for a Bad Tort Reform Bill? | 35 comments (35 topical)

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CAFA Is Not Bad Law (none / 0) (#64)
by Michael Masinter on Fri May 09, 2008 at 09:45:57 AM EST
Steve M is correct.  CAFA is not a bad law, and a vote for it is not a betrayal of progressive principles.  When I started practicing law in the early 1970s, almost all progressive litigation took place in federal courts, and progressive lawyers learned the minutiae of standing and subject matter jurisdiction to find ways to get cases into federal courts.  What has changed since then is the makeup of the judges who comprise the federal bench; they are increasingly conservative.  If we had just come off a thirty year run of democratic appointments to the federal courts, consumers would have pushed CAFA and business groups would have fought it tooth and nail.

In short, the objections to CAFA are instrumental; progressives have not become born again federalists out of a principled commitment to states' rights; we just don't like the current crop of federal judges. Give us back Brennan, Marshall, Elbert Tuttle et al and we'd swoon for CAFA.

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Why Did Obama Vote for a Bad Tort Reform Bill? | 35 comments (35 topical)

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