Justice DeLayed III: The Hammer Strikes Out

As predicted here last week, the U.S. Supreme Court has turned down Tom "The Hammer" DeLay's last-ditch effort to be removed from the November ballot in his "former" Texas district. The coup de grace was administered by none other than Justice Antonin Scalia, one of DeLay's right-wing soul mates.

The former House majority leader, who brought new meaning to the term hardball politics, quit Congress and decamped to suburban Washington rather than face defeat because of his various self-inflicted ethical and legal woes.

But rather than merely go quietly into the night, DeLay thought he'd pull one final gambit. He ran in and won the Republican primary before quitting and hand picking his replacement.

A federal appeals court upheld a federal judge who ruled that DeLay must remain on the November ballot. The Texas Republican Party then bypassed the Circuit Court and appealed directly to the U.S. Supreme Court.

DeLay, who is under indictment in Texas and has been snared in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal web, now will have to explain to his constituents why he deserves to be re-elected after trying so hard to abandon them.

Alternatively, DeLay may not even pretend to give a damn, step aside a support a write-in candidate.