Dellinger: Why shoould liberals WANT SCOTUS deciding these issues?

A Supreme Court conversation. - By Walter Dellinger and Dahlia Lithwick - Slate Magazine:

Flast and Hein present the same issue: Either the court should limit itself to deciding real lawsuits, or it should proclaim upon the constitutional rightness or wrongness of governmental actions whether or not there is such a suit. I would choose the former and overrule Flast.

Yesterday's dissenting opinion by Justice Souter, joined by Justices Stevens, Ginsberg, and Breyer is a really halfhearted effort. He makes the obvious point that this case is indistinguishable from Flast, but he never really defends Flast itself. Why do they still cling to Flast? Why is it that liberals want to expand the authority of the court beyond lawsuits in an era in which the courts are likely to produce results they don't like? I have been critical of Flast all along, under courts liberal, moderate, and conservative; I'm just surprised that position is still considered illiberal.

Is there any doubt how this court would have decided the merits of the challenge to the faith-based initiative if the justices had reached out to hear it? Why would those who are concerned about the Bush administration's faith-based spending think it a good idea to have the Supreme Court confer its constitutional imprimatur upon it? Placing some constitutional issues beyond the court's jurisdiction serves as a good reminder that the court is just one institution operating under the Constitution.