Proud
With politics at the national level dangerously dysfunctional the daily news can often make it harder to be proud of my country.  Today, as we have, however reluctantly and incompletely, affirmed that everyone gets equality before the law...I am proud, today.

Heard a voice on NPR angrily denounce the liberal court's ruling today.  Liberal court?  What world does that voice live in?  That person is certainly entitled to disagree with the court's opinion, but we need thoughtful disagreement, so avoid saying 'liberal' when you really mean 'something I disagree with,' since this same court just gutted the Voting Rights Act.  And, using fairly standard understandings of liberal/conservative and activist/deferential, that was a very conservative and activist ruling. 

So this court is at best divided.  It is probably most accurate (in a universe of just these two most recent rulings) to say the court is divided.  It is certainly not a liberal court.  In fact, while it would take more space than I am using to defend it, I would argue that this court is best described as conservative.  I think most analysts would agree with that assessment.  And that assessment is not a proxy for me saying I do not agree with the VRA decision.  Those are two different kinds of statements.

One final point.  Hard not to keep concluding the Scalia, Alito, and Roberts are overly politicizing the court, threatening to undermine its role and the rule of law.  But that is for another day.