7.03.2005
Not a Campaign (WashingtonPost.com)
EDITORIAL
Sunday, July 3, 2005; Page B06
SECONDS AFTER President Bush announces his choice to replace Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor -- whenever that happens and whoever the nominee is -- liberal interest groups will release a blast of e-mails promising a "rollback" of American liberties if the person is confirmed. Conservative groups, at the same moment, will blitz with e-mails proclaiming the nominee a modern John Marshall. Ads will appear on television. Journalists will be hit with distorted "reports" attacking or defending the nominee's "record," as groups release their opposition research or their defensive spin. Both camps, in short, will unleash the huge sums they have raised in what will be, for all intents and purposes, a political campaign -- a political campaign, unfortunately, for an office that is meant to be not merely apolitical but actively insulated from politics.
The campaign, in reality, began long ago. It began when both sides made the judgment that they had to invest in judicial appointments -- particularly Supreme Court appointments -- to make sure they got the results they wanted from the courts. At this point, the war has become a Washington industry, fed by both sides' wounds from the past, real and imagined, and fears for the future, realistic and fantastical. Barely had Justice O'Connor announced her retirement Friday when the liberal People for the American Way was promising to "help lead the fight against any terrible changes to the Supreme Court." The conservative Family Research Council vowed that the "public is primed for the fight it will take to confirm a nominee" and promised "significant grassroots support for the President's nominees." A lot of people on both sides actively want a fight.
The war is about money and fundraising as much as it is about jurisprudence and the judicial function. It elevates partisanship and political rhetoric over any serious discussion of law. In the long run, the war over the courts -- which teaches both judges and the public at large to view the courts simply as political institutions -- threatens judicial independence and the integrity of American justice.
(More ... Not a Campaign) ¶ 12:05
Sunday, July 3, 2005; Page B06
SECONDS AFTER President Bush announces his choice to replace Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor -- whenever that happens and whoever the nominee is -- liberal interest groups will release a blast of e-mails promising a "rollback" of American liberties if the person is confirmed. Conservative groups, at the same moment, will blitz with e-mails proclaiming the nominee a modern John Marshall. Ads will appear on television. Journalists will be hit with distorted "reports" attacking or defending the nominee's "record," as groups release their opposition research or their defensive spin. Both camps, in short, will unleash the huge sums they have raised in what will be, for all intents and purposes, a political campaign -- a political campaign, unfortunately, for an office that is meant to be not merely apolitical but actively insulated from politics.
The campaign, in reality, began long ago. It began when both sides made the judgment that they had to invest in judicial appointments -- particularly Supreme Court appointments -- to make sure they got the results they wanted from the courts. At this point, the war has become a Washington industry, fed by both sides' wounds from the past, real and imagined, and fears for the future, realistic and fantastical. Barely had Justice O'Connor announced her retirement Friday when the liberal People for the American Way was promising to "help lead the fight against any terrible changes to the Supreme Court." The conservative Family Research Council vowed that the "public is primed for the fight it will take to confirm a nominee" and promised "significant grassroots support for the President's nominees." A lot of people on both sides actively want a fight.
The war is about money and fundraising as much as it is about jurisprudence and the judicial function. It elevates partisanship and political rhetoric over any serious discussion of law. In the long run, the war over the courts -- which teaches both judges and the public at large to view the courts simply as political institutions -- threatens judicial independence and the integrity of American justice.
(More ... Not a Campaign) ¶ 12:05
