Russ on GRITtv

Russ was recently on Laura Flanders’s GRITtv to discuss Sonia Sotomayor’s nomination, the Tiller murder, Obama’s Middle East speech, and the upcoming Reagan centennial.

Here’s Russ on the public controversies surrounding Sotomayor:

I think most of these [accusations against Sotomayor] are what I would call misdirection. It’s an attempt to focus the public’s eye away from what actually matters. And, in fact, what we don’t hear discussed practically at all is, what does the Supreme Court really do? The most important thing that the Supreme Court does—I think on a par with constitutional issues—is its role in regulating big business. And this is what we don’t hear—I’ve never heard this on any of these shows. The tremendous decisions that they make about anti-trust and labor practices and the environment and so forth. And why are we not interested in that? . . .

I almost think this is a misdirection because I suspect that business likes her a lot better—the business element of the Republican Party doesn’t have any serious problems with her. One decision I don’t see mentioned at all is Tasini v. New York Times, a crucial case for writers and for workers, where she sided with the corporations. . . . And it was overturned by the Supreme Court.

Check out Russ’s analyses of the other events of the week . . .