Why Not Just Give Justice Kennedy A Swastika, Have Him Grow A Thin Mustache, And Be Done With It?

TPM's Sahil Kapur, on the first of the gay marriage cases, the issue of standing, discussed by the Supreme Court yesterday:

The case appeared to break down along ideological lines, with four justices in each camp and Justice Anthony Kennedy once again emerging as the likely swing vote.

Many of us believe that in a democracy, final decisions on significant social issues should not be relegated to the exercise of power by one man or woman. It's too much like dictatorship. But that is happening regularly in America in this decade. Sometimes that one man is the president; sometimes it is Justice Kennedy... but in no case is the Constitution, or even a majority in Congress, let alone the voice of the people, who have advanced quickly to majority support of gay marriage, given any weight.

I understand that the Court is supposed to be a balancing branch, a counterweight to current popular sentiment. But must it be so to the detriment of fundamental human rights such as the right to marry? Who will save our rights from the depredations of the political center?

And today the Court hears DOMA...