Quit Your Whining

Former Supreme Court Justice continued her diatribe against judicial critics at the University of Minnesota.
Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor told a University of Minnesota audience Tuesday night that she has been "saddened and disturbed" by the verbal attacks on state and federal judges that have been made by member of Congress who disagree with their decisions. O'Connor said lawmakers, who she didn't name, have threatened retaliation against judges, including "mass impeachments" and cutting off court jurisdictions from certain kind of cases, for decisions that are politically unpopular.

Such efforts to politicize the court jeopardize the balance of powers, O'Connor said, and defy the wisdom of the framers of the Constitution, who, she said, knew that "without justices who could and would make decisions that they knew were unpopular, we would lose the protections of our Constitution."
O'Connor is kidding herself if she thinks that the objections of Tom DeLay and others is because the decisions are politically motivated. The criticisms are motivated by the need to use the Constitution and precedent.

It isn't just politically unpopular when:
  • 5 liberal idiots said that private property rights were meaningless.
  • 1 liberal idiot said that the display of the Ten Commandments in front of the Austin, TX, courthouse was constitutional but that displays of the Ten Commandments in front of two Kentucky courthouses were unconstitutional.
  • 5 liberal idiots use foreign rulings to justify their ruling to outlaw the death penalty for minors.
  • the 9th Circus Court tells us that we've got to remove "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance.
These criticisms aren't solely politically motivated. They're motivated by a desire to see the Constitution followed. These criticisms are also leveled because we're sick and tired of these elitists thinking that the Constitution means whatever 5 justices say it means.

Frankly, Justice O'Connor was part of the problem with saying the Constitution meant whatever she thought it should say. Justice Alito and Chief Justice Roberts are part of the solution.
Since her retirement, O'Connor has spoken several times about the dangers of political interference for the judiciary. In a March speech at Georgetown University in Washington, O'Connor warned that attacks on the judiciary by some Republican leaders in Congress could undermine the judicial branch and maybe even move the country in the direction of a "dictatorship."
Justice O'Connor's gotta realize that politicians' criticisms aren't the same as political interference. Politicians' shouldn't be barred from expressing their opinions on judicial rulings just because a justice gets upset.



Posted Wednesday, May 24, 2006 11:28 AM

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