 Cynthia Tucker |
Posted on 04/03/2005 6:42:45 PM PDT by Gondring
Friends of Florida judge George Greer describe him as a low-key conservative Christian, a Republican, a family man, a dog lover. Appellate courts have found over and over again that Greer simply followed the law in deciding a sad and controversial case. But for that sin, the Pinellas County Circuit Court judge was invited out of his Southern Baptist Church.
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Apparently, Greer's critics, including his pastor, didn't like his rulings in the Terri Schiavo case, which landed in his courtroom in 1998. They wanted him to be an activist judge -- a jurist who ignored the law and ruled according to the passions of a group of partisans.
Ultraconservatives want you to believe the term "activist judge" applies to a group of determined liberals whose rulings have overturned historic precedent, undermined morality and defied common sense. But the controversy that erupted around Schiavo, who died on Thursday, ought to remind us once and for all what "activist judge" really means: a jurist whose rulings dissatisfy a right-wing political constituency.
Over the next few months, you'll hear the term "activist judge" often as President Bush nominates justices to the U.S. Supreme Court. The president could end up appointing as many as four. Chief Justice William Rehnquist, 80, is ailing with cancer; John Paul Stevens is also an octogenarian. Sandra Day O'Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg are cancer survivors in their 70s.
With so many likely vacancies, ultraconservatives see an opportunity to drive from the bench any semblance of fealty to the law or the U.S. Constitution. They claim that judges have become the tool of an outlandish liberal fringe that has violated the graves of the Founding Fathers. When right-wing talk-show hosts and U.S. senators denounce judicial activism, they conjure up images of jurists who terrorize the God-fearing, coddle criminals and would -- according to one crazed campaign memo passed around during last year's presidential campaign -- outlaw the Bible.
The next time you hear those claims, think of Judge Greer, whose politics tilt to the right. He is among the targets of ultraconservative ire.
For that matter, think of the current Supreme Court -- hardly a bastion of liberalism. Its justices declined to intervene in the Schiavo case because they could find no legitimate reason to do so.
While the rift between Michael Schiavo and his in-laws, Bob and Mary Schindler, is depressing, family conflict is almost a way of life in America. Courts are called upon often to settle family disputes over money, children and property. Florida law makes clear that a spouse has the right to decide end-of-life issues, and, after testimony from several people, Greer upheld Schiavo's claim that his wife didn't want to be kept alive through artificial means.
It is perfectly understandable that the Schindlers were unhappy with his ruling. As grieving parents, they wanted to believe, contrary to the judgment of several physicians, that their daughter might one day be miraculously restored.
But the attacks on the judiciary by the Schindlers' supporters -- including an attempted end-run by an activist Congress -- made it clear that a minority of religious extremists have no respect for the law and no understanding of the separation of powers on which this government was founded.
Among those who missed their high school civics class, apparently, were Congress and the president. In one of many rulings turning down the Schindlers' request for intervention, an Atlanta federal court judge chastised the executive and legislative branches for overreaching.
"Congress chose to overstep constitutional boundaries into the province of the judiciary. Such an act cannot be countenanced," wrote Judge Stanley Birch, who was appointed by former President George H.W. Bush. Hardly a liberal activist.
The current President Bush has already made clear that his idea of a model chief justice is Clarence Thomas, who has no respect for judicial precedent. But even Thomas might not satisfy the extremists who chastise Judge Greer. They will be satisfied with nothing less than a judiciary steeped in the same narrow religious views they want to impose on the nation.
Cynthia Tucker is editorial page editor for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. She can be reached by e-mail: cynthia@ajc.com.
I am saddened (bring on the Daschle pics). My beloved FR has become a tent revival meeting.
I assure you that no Catholic who actually adhered to the teaching of the Catholic Church would ever countenance the murder of Terri Schiavo, noi matter what legal pretext the murderer used.
Which is why the Vatican issued a statement last week correctly identifying Michael Schiavo and George Greer as murderers.
Do not believe annyokie when she says she knows Catholicism. You would be better guided by referring to official statements of the Catholic Church, not annyokie's confused ramblings.
Thank you. That happens all too frequently here. You better be the RIGHT Christian or you're going to get flamed, insulted and "sent to the principal's office." I guess there are people who just can't articulate their point.Kindegarten, right.
You may want to go back and review the definition of a bigot, then.
When one jumps into a discussion with nothing but slurs, it shouldn't come as any surprise to see the backlash. Can't you make a point without the religious slurs?
You might want to take a break from FR.
Your bile is becoming awfully repetitive and really, only reflects poorly on you. You are not helping your side. Besides, that much hatred can't be good for you.
BTW, I'm not a "Christer". I'm Buddhist.
Putting aside your interpretation of the Constitution, with which almost all of my guild would disagree, including moi, the fact of the matter is that the law needs to be changed. Let's get about it. Let's pass Kruathammer's law.
Their job is to decide the Constitutionality -- it is or it isn't -- of the particular case before it. Adhering to precedents, referring to precedents, or establishing new ones is auxiliary.
One sort of kindergarten behavior might be the use of epithets that have no purpose except the insulting and belittling of others.
Yeah, everybody who wanted to see Terri Schiavo safely in the custody of her parents is a Ward Churchill nutcase. You guys are really sweet.
I care less about what Tucker thinks than what Julia Roberts "feels".
I can't stand it. The melt-down that has gone on here in the past month is unreal.
Quit spouting religious dogma! ;-) (/sarcasm)
Putting aside the legal merits, about which I have posted until there is no sound left, matters of profound conscience should not be dictated by political considerations. Write that down.
Well, as a believer you know that there can be no theocracy in this age. A true theocracy can only occur when the Jesus, the Creator of the universe, rules on earth. Right now, we should be more concerned about the life-stealing one (I John 5:19). That's the real enemy.
Bunch of CLAPTRAP by Yahoo News.
Yahoo news a real conservative leaning out fit. (BIG SARCASM)
Name-calling like "Christer" and "Bible-beater"?
hogwash!!
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