tp167.xml
Title
tp167.xml
Source
born-digital
Media Type
story
Date Entered
2003-03-03
TomPaine Story: Story
"LESSONS LEARNED: THE IMPORTANCE OF THE FEDERAL COURTS","LESSONS LEARNED: THE IMPORTANCE OF THE FEDERAL COURTS
A lesson we should be learning from the aftermath of September 11 is the
importance of all federal courts, not just the Supreme Court, to the future
of civil liberties.
Ironically, President Bush has argued that the Senate should speedily
confirm his right-wing judicial nominees lest empty seats on the federal
trial and appellate courts compromise the war on terror.
If anything, the novelty of the legal issues presented concerning the
scope of government surveillance, military incarceration and trial, and
secret detentions only intensifies the importance of scrutinizing lower
court judges with painstaking care and due deliberation.
The argument for speeding up lower court nominees is that, unlike the
Supreme Court, lower courts only follow the law. They do not make it.
That's hogwash. Lower court judges frequently face questions that cannot
be decided on precedent alone. Trial judges are often required to exercise
their ""sound discretion,"" which means that the Courts of Appeals typically
defer to their factual findings and the Supreme Court does not interfere.
Current challenges to the Adminstration's draconian policies prove the
point. This is the most dangerous time since Vietnam to risk staffing the
courts with judges more committed to ideology than civil liberties.
Republicans helped create the extra vacancies they now hope to fill.
Although President Clinton typically sent centrist judicial nominations to
the Repubican Senate, Senate Republicans did not reciprocate the spirit of
moderation. Instead, as documented in an American Judicature Society
study, they subjected Clinton nominees to ""unprecedented delay in
confirmation processes.""
They hoped, in other words, to preserve an artificially high number of
judicial vacancies that could later be filled with conservative Republicans.
September 11 makes it especially important to rebuff such right-wing
bullying. All courts help preserve our freedoms and must be staffed with
utmost care.
A lesson we should be learning from the aftermath of September 11 is the
importance of all federal courts, not just the Supreme Court, to the future
of civil liberties.
Ironically, President Bush has argued that the Senate should speedily
confirm his right-wing judicial nominees lest empty seats on the federal
trial and appellate courts compromise the war on terror.
If anything, the novelty of the legal issues presented concerning the
scope of government surveillance, military incarceration and trial, and
secret detentions only intensifies the importance of scrutinizing lower
court judges with painstaking care and due deliberation.
The argument for speeding up lower court nominees is that, unlike the
Supreme Court, lower courts only follow the law. They do not make it.
That's hogwash. Lower court judges frequently face questions that cannot
be decided on precedent alone. Trial judges are often required to exercise
their ""sound discretion,"" which means that the Courts of Appeals typically
defer to their factual findings and the Supreme Court does not interfere.
Current challenges to the Adminstration's draconian policies prove the
point. This is the most dangerous time since Vietnam to risk staffing the
courts with judges more committed to ideology than civil liberties.
Republicans helped create the extra vacancies they now hope to fill.
Although President Clinton typically sent centrist judicial nominations to
the Repubican Senate, Senate Republicans did not reciprocate the spirit of
moderation. Instead, as documented in an American Judicature Society
study, they subjected Clinton nominees to ""unprecedented delay in
confirmation processes.""
They hoped, in other words, to preserve an artificially high number of
judicial vacancies that could later be filled with conservative Republicans.
September 11 makes it especially important to rebuff such right-wing
bullying. All courts help preserve our freedoms and must be staffed with
utmost care.
Collection
Citation
“tp167.xml,” September 11 Digital Archive, accessed December 23, 2024, https://911digitalarchive.org/items/show/725.