Editorial: Shifting balance of power

Tuesday, June 26, 2007 | 7:07 a.m.

T he U.S. Supreme Court in the past month has made a string of ominous rulings, chipping away at the separation of church and state, workers' rights and protections for endangered species and habitat.

The rulings address vastly different issues, but are united in that all have been 5-4 decisions, in which the court's far-right conservative majority has prevailed.

Two of the court's recent rulings involving such a split came Monday. In one case, the court's conservatives ruled that ordinary taxpayers cannot challenge the decisions made by President Bush's White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, which, among other things, helps funnel federal grants to religious charities. This ruling denies Americans the right to challenge programs that obscure the line that is supposed to separate religion and government.

In another irresponsible ruling on Monday, the court's conservatives stood with developers and the Bush administration in ruling that the Clean Water Act takes precedence over the Endangered Species Act when states issue water pollution permits to developers. The decision means that state regulators do not have to consult with other agencies or take possible endangered species habitat destruction into consideration when issuing water permits as long as the projects adhere to the Clean Water Act, which does not address habitat.

And workers' rights took a blow in late May when the court ruled that people may not sue their employers for alleged pay discrimination that is more than 180 days old. As Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg pointed out in the dissenting opinion, the ruling showed an indifference to "the insidious way in which women can be the victims of pay discrimination."

Since Bush took office six years ago, Justice Sandra Day O'Connor has retired and Chief Justice William Renquist has died, leaving two empty Supreme Court seats that Bush filled with conservatives.

Supreme Court justices may remain on the bench for life. And, as the above-mentioned cases illustrate, elections do matter. The consequences of Bush's Supreme Court choices can have lasting - and detrimental - effects on all of us.