"Lower courts are bound to follow this court's decisions until they are withdrawn or modified," Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote in February in explaining her vote to block the Montana decision.
They may well prove to be its high water mark — the point where justice and politics clashed, and justice withdrew.
"He was my chief counsel and staff director at a very difficult time," Mr. Specter continued, referring to the nominations of Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito, the withdrawn Supreme Court nomination of Harriet E. Miers and a host of legal issues, including civil rights, bankruptcy and asbestos litigation.
If Justice Thomas withdrew, leaving only seven justices to hear an appeal, four votes would be needed to grant a stay of execution.
Fears of a full-blown constitutional crisis were averted when the politicians appeared before the Supreme Court, and the cabinet withdrew the chief justice's suspension.On the surface, these latest events might give little cause for alarm.
At the end of every government's five-year term, it hands over power for three months to a "neutral" caretaker to oversee elections.This time, the main opposition, the Awami League, led by Sheikh Hasina Wajed, cried foul, fearing that the two proposed caretakers would prove anything but neutral: President Iajuddin Ahmed has taken on the job, after a former chief justice withdrew.
With the exception of a few, the conservative churches withdrew from social justice practices to (1) focus on the evangelization of individuals and (2) not be associated with the theologically liberal churches.
The JCHR is also calling for a proposal limiting compensation for victims of miscarriages of justice to be withdrawn from the Anti-Social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Bill.
Prosecutors have also asked for immunity to be withdrawn from a supreme court justice who they also want to investigate in the case.
"Lower courts are bound to follow this court's decisions until they are withdrawn or modified," the two justices observed.
In an ugly power play against justice and accountability, Hezbollah has withdrawn from Lebanon's cabinet, bringing down the unity government of Prime Minister Saad Hariri.
