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Justice O'Connor Blames Criticism of Judicial Activism-Not Activism-for Loss of Faith in System
Human Events ^ | 4/5/7 | Chris Field

Posted on 04/05/2007 8:05:23 AM PDT by ZGuy

At a conference at Southern Methodist University yesterday, former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor voiced her concern about partisan attacks on judges "coming out of the halls of Congress and out of state legislatures across the country."

Neat trick: Blaming Americans' distrust of the Judicial Branch on criticism of judicial activism instead of blaming judicial activism.

From an AP report on Fox News:

Former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor said Wednesday that she has grown weary of partisan attacks on judges, criticisms that she believes are causing citizens to lose faith in the judicial system.

O'Connor detailed plans to establish a Web site to teach schoolchildren about the judicial branch of government during a speech to law students, lawyers and fellow judges at a judicial conference at Southern Methodist University.

O'Connor, 77, said she finds troubling the "increased number of attack on judges that are coming out of the halls of Congress and out of state legislatures across the country." Single-issue advocacy groups are tagging judges with labels such as "activist judges" or "godless, secular humanists" to win passage of propositions or amendments to state constitutions, she said.

"The founders of our country did not intend that Congress or the legislative branch dictate results in specific cases," O'Connor said. "I think we're hearing more criticisms about judges than I've heard in my very long lifetime."


TOPICS: Government
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Title slightly modified to fit limit. Original title :
Former Justice O'Connor Blames Criticism of Judicial Activism -- Not Activism -- for 'Loss of Faith' in Judicial System
1 posted on 04/05/2007 8:05:26 AM PDT by ZGuy
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To: ZGuy

Yeah, it’s a shame the court door didn’t hit her ass on the way out.


2 posted on 04/05/2007 8:06:24 AM PDT by MeanWestTexan (Kol Hakavod Lezahal)
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To: ZGuy

Sounds like she is suffering from Alzheimer’s...I’m glad she chose to retire when she did!


3 posted on 04/05/2007 8:08:08 AM PDT by TommyDale ("Rudy can win the War on Terror!" Perhaps, but for whose side?)
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To: ZGuy

O’Connor and her ilk feel that judges should be like demigods, unaccountable to anybody and not to be questioned under any circumstances. The arrogance on display here is just truly astonishing.


4 posted on 04/05/2007 8:09:06 AM PDT by jpl
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To: ZGuy
Former Justice O'Connor

That's my favorite word in her title.

5 posted on 04/05/2007 8:09:19 AM PDT by American Quilter (Support our troops--and VICTORY--at the Fort Carson rally on Saturday, April 7th!)
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To: ZGuy

Sorry, Sandra Day. Decisions such as Kelo demonstrate how truly despicable the unelected Judiciary has become.


6 posted on 04/05/2007 8:10:18 AM PDT by sono (TITUS PVLLO in MMVIII - Endorsed by the 13th Legion.)
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To: TommyDale

She should hve left sooner,no loss.


7 posted on 04/05/2007 8:11:50 AM PDT by Plains Drifter (I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy it!!!)
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To: ZGuy

What part of co-equal branches of government does she not understand?

The Congress and Executive are not exempt from critcism, what makes the Judcial exempt?


8 posted on 04/05/2007 8:12:41 AM PDT by The South Texan (The Drive By Media is America's worst enemy and American people don't know it.)
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To: TommyDale

She should have left sooner,no loss.


9 posted on 04/05/2007 8:13:07 AM PDT by Plains Drifter (I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy it!!!)
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To: ZGuy
"The founders of our country did not intend that Congress or the legislative branch dictate results in specific cases,"

Huh? Since when did O'Connor care about what the founders intended? That being said if the results of specific cases are indeed that specific then the results should not be expanded to represent "the law of the land".

10 posted on 04/05/2007 8:14:42 AM PDT by rhombus
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To: ZGuy
Here, Sandy, there's no doubt about which came first: Criticism of judicial activism didn't arise because some legislators had a dream about it, it arose because of decades of that crap, and We the People - as noted via some of our representatives - have gotten tired of it.

BTW, if your ears are getting red because of what a few empty suits are saying, you should check out the blogosphere...your ears will melt off of your thick, activist skull.

I'm SOOOOO glad that your are a FORMER justice. Too bad you stayed so long.

11 posted on 04/05/2007 8:24:50 AM PDT by Ancesthntr
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To: ZGuy

Let’s face it Sandra baby, the court has spewed a lot of very bad precedent that gives both the court and congress powers never delegated to them.


12 posted on 04/05/2007 8:25:42 AM PDT by AZRepublican ("The degree in which a measure is necessary can never be a test of the legal right to adopt it.")
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To: ZGuy

This is the same woman who voted to uphold McCain-Feingold because it was only a “marginal” infringement of the First Amendment. So I’m not surprised that she regards the exercise of free speech (in this case, criticism of the judiciary) as a bad thing. I expect nothing less from a “marginal” justice.


13 posted on 04/05/2007 8:29:19 AM PDT by KingSnorky
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To: ZGuy

What explains this? It is easy. She is not a woman of principle; rather, she is a glorified union spokesman. It just so happens that, in this case, the union is for Federal judges. When it comes right down to it, she is more passionate about defending the behavior of the members of her own profession (right or wrong) than she is about our Constitution and our system of government.


14 posted on 04/05/2007 8:29:58 AM PDT by dinoparty
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To: ZGuy

If the USSC could learn to just read English and quit making up or reinterpreting the Constitution as though WE THE PEONS can not read and understand the written words then she might understand WHY we do not believe in the Courts superority.


15 posted on 04/05/2007 8:31:42 AM PDT by therut
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To: ZGuy

She’s in good company-there’s alot of concern right now in America about too much free speech. I wonder if she supports jailing ‘global warming deniers’? Maybe she’s bucking for a university president’s job. She’d be a perfect fit.


16 posted on 04/05/2007 8:32:07 AM PDT by Spok
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To: ZGuy
People lose faith in the judicial system when judges find rights in emanations from penumbras to the Constitution, when judges invent the right to homosexual conduct, when judges declare the separation of church and state based on a private letter from Thomas Jefferson, when judges use the decisions of European courts as the basis for US law, and when judges side with cranky ideas such as global warming.
17 posted on 04/05/2007 8:36:29 AM PDT by quadrant
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To: ZGuy

In response to FORMER Justice O’Connor’ assertion:

BULL$H!T !!!!!!!!!!


18 posted on 04/05/2007 8:37:40 AM PDT by RatRipper
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To: rhombus
The founders of our country made no mention of a Judiciary being a co-equal branch to the Legislative and Executive branches. It gave itself powers of judicial review in 1803 with Marbury v. Madison. Founders like Hamilton supported limiting their powers, stating that the powers of the judiciary should not extend beyond beyond the will of the Executive Branch.
19 posted on 04/05/2007 8:40:52 AM PDT by EarthBound (Ex Deo,gratia. Ex astris,scientia (Duncan Hunter in 2008! http://www.gohunter08.com))
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To: ZGuy

This lady is just proving what happens to a persons brain in old age. This is true of all of the elderly on the court. An age limit for remaining on the court ought to be 70 years of age or maybe even younger.


20 posted on 04/05/2007 8:43:04 AM PDT by hgro
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