Unrepresentative Democracy, Ctd

Fallows adds to his earlier post about the disproportionate power of 41 GOP senators:

Five Justices of the Supreme Court, outvoting their four colleagues, can work a fundamental change in election law that goes far beyond the issues presented by the parties to the case. (Among many accounts, see these two on Slate, here and here, and National Journal here.) Courts always have the option of deciding cases narrowly or broadly. The breadth of this one, reaching far beyond the merits of the case so as to enact the majority Justices' views, is staggering even to a non-lawyer like me. A one-person margin* is enough for a change of this magnitude. In the least accountable branch of government, the narrowest margin prevails; in our elected legislative branch, substantial majorities are neutered.