Posted by
NOTLEGALROADKILLYET on Sunday, September 17, 2006 10:54:32 AM
One of the Friday night KBDI shows I like is Aaron Harber because although he is a former Democratic activist and statewide candidate, he is a model of evenhandedness.
This past Friday his guests were former Justice O'Conner and Justice Breyer. They were arguing for the independence of the courts, and that people shouldn't attack the courts for their decisions, even if they are wrong. The program was full of irony for me:
1. That evening's news was about how Senators Warner, McCain, and Graham were grandstanding against the administrations effort to fix Hamdan, more a political editorial by five justices (including Breyer) than a lawful decision made by a court that had jurisdiction.
2. I had just spent a good part the day writing a
post suggesting that the one common ground I had found among Colorado Republicans was a disgust with the courts and that a frontal attack on the Courts might be a good election year tactic, both this year and in 2008.
3. One reason that the courts are out of control, and they are out of control, is a LACK of criticism by the media. In Colorado, information about judicial discipline is not available to the press, and the courts are deflecting press inquiries with a $20/hour 75 cent a page copying charge for public documents.
4. The rationale for the existence of this blog is that there is a crying NEED for criticism, a NEED to cut the feathers of a court system that believes it can operate outside the law and the norms of society and shouldn't be criticized for doing so.