the  appearance of special interest groups trying to further their agenda through the courts and sympathetic judges.

Dale, I'm pretty sure special interest groups are funded and populated by middle america. Turning to the courts is a tool used by every group when all else fails, around here we have lots of NIMBYs taking cities and counties to court to stop new high schools, road construction, improving water pipelines, new dump construction. A few years back CA approved an anti-immigration proposition, opponents filed suit over its state constitutionality, proponents screamed bloody murder about "the will of the people". Soon after, if not the next year, a medical marijuana prop. passed, and the two sides flipped positions . . . it sure seems that many of us are willing to do anything to get what we want, and stop what we don't, but are shocked when someone else adopts similar tactics . . . I'm rambling again . . .