Posted on 03/12/2006 6:49:12 PM PST by blam
Former top judge says US risks edging near to dictatorship
· Sandra Day O'Connor warns of rightwing attacks
· Lawyers 'must speak up' to protect judiciary
Julian Borger in Washington
Monday March 13, 2006
The Guardian (UK)
Sandra Day O'Connor, a Republican-appointed judge who retired last month after 24 years on the supreme court, has said the US is in danger of edging towards dictatorship if the party's rightwingers continue to attack the judiciary.
In a strongly worded speech at Georgetown University, reported by National Public Radio and the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin, Ms O'Connor took aim at Republican leaders whose repeated denunciations of the courts for alleged liberal bias could, she said, be contributing to a climate of violence against judges.
Ms O'Connor, nominated by Ronald Reagan as the first woman supreme court justice, declared: "We must be ever-vigilant against those who would strong-arm the judiciary."
She pointed to autocracies in the developing world and former Communist countries as lessons on where interference with the judiciary might lead. "It takes a lot of degeneration before a country falls into dictatorship, but we should avoid these ends by avoiding these beginnings."
In her address to an audience of corporate lawyers on Thursday, Ms O'Connor singled out a warning to the judiciary issued last year by Tom DeLay, the former Republican leader in the House of Representatives, over a court ruling in a controversial "right to die" case.
After the decision last March that ordered a brain-dead woman in Florida, Terri Schiavo, removed from life support, Mr DeLay said: "The time will come for the men responsible for this to answer for their behaviour."
(Excerpt) Read more at guardian.co.uk ...
If you're interested, here's a fantastic series of videos of a debate between Scalia and Breyer involving the use of foreign law in Constitutional considerations.
Oops, forgot the link ;)
http://www.c-span.org/search/basic.asp?ResultStart=1&ResultCount=10&BasicQueryText=scalia
Oh wait . . .
By now, I'm sure someone else has said it. We must be ever vigilant against a judiciary that would strong-arm the Constitution and the people.
Exactly how did "Public" became "Private" in Kelo?
####But a dictatorship of the Judiciary is just fine.####
Yep! If the Supreme Court voted 5-4 tomorrow to forcibly impose gay "marriage" on the nation, overturning the democratically enacted bans on such "marriages" in numerous states, O'Connor would accuse critics of the court ruling of wanting to set up a dictatorship.
This woman is an embarrassment. Ronald Reagan was a great man and a great president, but no one's perfect, and he made a tragic error putting O'Connor on the court. She ruled right on occassion (Kelo, for instance), but overall she showed no regard for the Constitution, the will of the people, or our nation's history and traditions, not to mention our national sovereignty.
Sandra O'Day should concern herself with the subverting ACLU dictatorship!
The only danger is judicial dictatorship - when judges come to believe that they are philosopher-kings.
There is your political obit Sandra. Better put some ice on that one. Quite the tasty little bon mot that is.
Hey, I am an old people! lol
Pardon me if I don't believe anything this nutcase writes...
The spies who pushed for war
Julian Borger reports on the shadow rightwing intelligence network set up in Washington to second-guess the CIA and deliver a justification for toppling Saddam Hussein by force
Thursday July 17, 2003
The Guardian
White House 'lied about Saddam threat'
July 10, 2003
by Julian Borger
Bush makes poor pay for military might and tax cuts: Schools and health lose out as US public services endure worst crisis since 1930s
May 26, 2003
by Julian Borger (Guardian Unlimited)
http://inside.c-spanarchives.org:8080/cspan/Pictures/Persons/093036/093036-188725-09.jpg
Yes, we're heading for tyranny, but it won't be the party or individual many will think or say it is going to be. It will be someone no one expected. The politics are so polarized in this country right now we are heading fast in that direction. The end result is going to shock a lot of people.
Notice how they through the whole appointed by a Republican bit in there. So was Stevens, as if that means anything.
Shuddup and sing, Sandy, the Dipsy Chickens are looking for a new lead singer, by the way!
I'm surprised anybody stayed awake through one of her lectures. She is the most boring speaker I've ever had inflicted upon me.
Who became a leftist, anti American swing vote soon after her appointment. Oh, excuse me, I should have said a "moderate" swing vote. No surprize here.
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