Interesting article in the LA Times about potential disagreement among conservatives as social conservatives and free-market conservatives duke it out. The focus here is on two cases about to be heard by the Supreme Court, one dealing with medical marijuana, the other with the direct shipping of wine to consumers, but it’s certainly an issue with broader implications.
Based on past actions of this court, it looks like the free-market conservatives have the edge here. But as this article points out, in the big cases (eg, US vs Lopez, overturning a federal law prohibiting possession of a gun on school property) it’s been traditionally conservative issues which benefit from restricted federal power. Now, it’s traditionally liberal issues which stand to benefit.
We’ll see.