Posted on 08/09/2005 1:38:59 PM PDT by Crackingham
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."
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who was speaking with Breyer, said: "The politics of judges is getting to be red hot." He said Supreme Court rulings on the Pledge of Allegiance and Ten Commandments have captured the public's interest and polarized Democrats and Republicans.
"There's nothing that's not on the table," former Solicitor General Theodore Olson said of the court's work, which this fall includes issues like abortion, capital punishment and assisted suicide.
Breyer said the nine-member court is focused on constitutional limits on major fights of the day. "We're sort of at the outer bounds. And we can't control politics of it, and I don't think you want us to try to control politics of it," he said.
Congressional leaders including House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, have criticized justices in recent months. DeLay was particularly critical of the court's refusal to stop Terri Schiavo's death and at a death penalty decision that cited international cases.
Breyer defended using overseas legal opinions as a guide only, adding, "It has hit a political nerve."
Breyer, Olson and Graham were discussing the future of courts on the final day of the ABA's annual meeting in Chicago. Also Tuesday, the group was debating whether to endorse federal protection for journalists who refuse to reveal their sources to prosecutors. Passage of such a measure would authorize the organization to lobby Congress, where "shield law" proposals are pending.
Judicial independence has been a major theme at the meeting of the ABA, a 400,000-member group. The group's policymaking board passed a resolution urging elected officials and others to support and defend judges. 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.
...Better case, would have been abuses of BJ/sHrILLARY Klintoon.
Breyere is traitorous tyrant pervert scum, just like
Ginsburg and Kennedy...They are evil souled
betrayers of the people and the Constitution
of the US of A. They are out to destruct the
fabric and spirit of our society and
civilisation with perverse and outrageously
assinine "decisions".
>> 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.
When Breyer and other leftists on the Court make political rulings they should expect political attacks. Further, the judiciary is not independent, but rather is controlled by ideologues like Breyer.
Aptly Put. :)
We need a law or Constitional Admendment that would allow the congress to overrule the Supreme Court under certain circumstances.
But the problem is the POLITICS INSIDE THE COURT. Most of the growing disrespect of the Court in general, and of Justices as stupid and dangerous as Breyer, is in direct consequence of Court decisions that invaded the political province of decisions that belong to legislatures or to the people themselves.
In short, this is well-earned, well-deserved disrespect for a Court infested with the likes of Breyer. He, and they, have it coming. But he, being clueless, whines to the ABA about the treatment he is receiving. [This is also a reason why I resigned from the ABA, decades ago. They are as corrupt as the current Court.)
Congressman Billybob
I wish you had won...last year.
I'ii stick to the ice cream (of the same name). At least when it goes through a melt down it's still pallatable. The use of foreign legal precedence is not only legally indefensible, it goes against the oath he took.
If you don't like the heat, stay within your Constitutional boundaries and stay the hell out of assuming the role of a Legislature.
oh boo hoo hoo.... maybe once we get their attention a little better, THEY will pay attention
Stevie, sweetheart, you and your black robed brethren grabbed power. Sad, really that you've reached your age and don't yet understand that whenever ANYONE grabs power he becomes a target. That you don't want to pay for what you have taken, well, that's the hypocrisy of the whinging sissy.
Now, STFU Stevie.
No reflection on you, either, Ivan. I have read enough of your posts to get the impression you probably understand Japanese parlimentary procedure as well as the US Constitution!
What a fabulous document it is, too. It is too bad 95% or more of Americans can barely tell you what it is, or why it was put together that way. I think a few of our Supremes fall into that category (COUGH-GINSBERG-COUGH-BRYER-HACK-SOUTER)
I guess that is life.
Crybaby...
Treat the U.S. Constitution like toilet paper....
then get upset when critsized for it...
Sheesh...
And all in the name of "Judicial Independence"?....
Freedom is NOT liscense your honor
Tell him to read the Constitution instead of the newspapers. That would "keep him on target" and relieve him of bad press. Presto, no more worries.
Let me tell you what I love about the American constitution. It is an essentially conservative document - it calls for the limitation of government, the rights of the individual, the preservation of liberty. It is not nuanced. It is clear. Those justices you cough about debauch that clarity of thought with their "interpretations".
Regards, Ivan
Breyer is a scumbag who legislates from the bench like a political hack.
If the scumbag just did his own job and let the state and federal legislatures do theirs, and at the same time stayed away from initiatives that were passed overwhelmingly by voters, then the scumbag wouldn't have to worry about "political criticism".
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