The larger problem, however, is that far too often the federal courts (state, too) aren't the apolitical institutions of hermetic legal analysis we want them to be (and they claim to be). In my view the courts are declining to stand up and be counted merely by doing the job we've constitutionally empowered them to do. This isn't encouraging.
On the other hand, in my opinion, precisely because they've demonstrated their overt sensitivity to the politics of what is afterall a legal issue, they've shown themselves to be amenable to political process. In other words, be polite but push and push and push and don't ever quit. When things go wrong (as they assuredly have on this issue) in a society like ours, it becomes vital that ordinary citizens speak loud and clear.