Possible Supreme Court pick has ruled against school uniforms

Here's some news that shows there's a glimmer of hope for America still!

Sidney Thomas, 56, is a judge on the federal Ninth Circuit who's now on the short list of possible appointees to fill John Paul Stevens's Supreme Court seat. He was a lawyer in Montana before Bill Clinton appointed him to the court.

The bad news here is that the Ninth Circuit is not the progressive bastion that the media portrays it as. This court has generated countless activist rulings in the past few years creating windfalls for irresponsible corporations and chiseling away at civil liberties. The good news is that Sidney Thomas's most important legal opinions have been dissents from the Ninth Circuit's majority - so he's not responsible for the Ninth's rightist tilt.

With the Ninth Circus upheld a fascist school uniform policy, Thomas dissented. He correctly observed that mandatory uniforms in public schools violate Tinker v. Des Moines.

Thomas also opposed an unconstitutional policy in San Francisco of strip-searching all newly arrested inmates regardless of the charges.

If Sidney Thomas is nominated, you know the GOP is going to pull out all the stops to make sure he gets rejected. If this piece is any indication, we can't let 'em get away with it.

(Source: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/nov05election/detail?entry_id=61330)