Breyer Concerned About Judicial Independence
By Montag | Related entries in General Politics, Supreme CourtA short article from tha AP indicates that Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer is concerned:
Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer said Tuesday that rulings on difficult subjects like gay rights and the death penalty have left courts vulnerable to political attacks that are threatening judicial independence.Breyer urged lawyers to help educate people about court responsibility to be an independent decision-maker.
“If you say seven or eight or nine members of the Supreme Court feel there’s a problem … you’re right,” he told the American Bar Association. “It’s this edge on a lot of issues.”
What did the ABA say to that?
New group President Michael Greco of Boston said judges have faced physical threats, and threats of impeachment from Washington political leaders unhappy with court decisions.
“If we do not protect our courts, our courts cannot protect us,” Greco said.
Associated Press: Court Justice Worried About Criticis
Seems like a no-brainer: judges must be independent and objective. The nomination and confirmation process will inevitably be a political storm, but should be undertaken with a goal of finding an objective jurist. After the storm, hands off Our court. There is no coercion in justice.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 10th, 2005 and is filed under General Politics, Supreme Court. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
August 11th, 2005 at 6:29 am
Isn’t Justice Breyer of the Supremes, who thinks applying foreign laws to American Constitutional cases is a good idea. For any concern Breyer has about the independence of the courts, he needs to look in the mirror for the reason for that concern. When courts pull decisions out of their butts, that are based on nothing other than their personal, emotional, policy preferences, you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to realize that the public is going to react and that there will be politicians out there to act for the public.
After Kelo, the public is out there trying to use eminent domain to take Justice Souter’s residence in New Hampshire and build a hotel, which will bring more taxes into the town. Souter voted for this for other people, he deserves to see how it works on himself. Breyer ought think about this instead of whining and mewling.
August 11th, 2005 at 8:03 am
The issue here is whether there is a threat to the independence of the court, and is it important enought to protect? To attack Breyer because he had something to say about the issue is an ad hominem logical fallacy.
In answer to you assertions against Breyer: If there are legitimate grounds to impeach him, then do so. Otherwise, attempts at coercion through threats of impeachment, or worse: threats of physical violence, are just plain criminal.