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The Most Important Legal Developments of 2004:
Gerrymandering, Torture, Guantanamo, and Equality for Gays

By EDWARD LAZARUS

In a nation obsessed with lists, it seems only appropriate to end the year with a column remarking upon the most important legal developments of 2004.

In a perfect world, I could pull this off in the form of a song like "The Twelve Days of Christmas." But, alas, a list, categorized and briefly annotated, will have to do.

2004’s Top Legal Story: Democracy Imperiled; a Supreme Court Unwilling to Intervene

To my mind, the top legal story of 2004 was the continued impoverishment of the quality of our democracy, and of the integrity of our institutions of government.

This is now a long-running saga that has seen many highlights over the last decade. We’ve suffered through the partisan impeachment of a popular, recently re-elected President on the ground that he’d lied about an affair. And, in 2004, we temporarily surrendered democratic governance to nine unelected, life-tenured judges who took it upon themselves to usurp power that should have belonged to the American People, and lawlessly declare George W. Bush the winner of the 2000 election.

This year’s contributions to the arteriosclerosis in our democracy are far less spectacular than either the impeachment of Clinton or the crowning of Bush. But two 2004 developments do deserve special mention:

First, this year, in Vieth v. Jubelirer, the Supreme Court declined to place any constitutional limit on the increasingly aggressive practice of gerrymandering electoral districts to achieve purely political or partisan ends. As a result, we are stuck with a system where, after every census, incumbents will continue to enjoy basically unlimited power to carve out safe seats for themselves. Inevitably, the political party in power, by redrawing districts however it please, will help itself (as Texas Republicans did this year) to a grossly disproportionate number of legislative seats.