Wisconsin Law Journal

Striving for Independence

May 7, 2008

Given Justice O'Connor's vote with the majority in Bush v. Gore, it's hard to take her seriously. She seems like a nice lady, like your grandmother perhaps. But in voting in lockstep with her Republican brethren, to appoint a man who hates the law so much that he would attack and savage it as no other president has ever done, where was her judicial independence then? She helped unleash the dogs of war upon the rule of law. Now she wants to remove the right of the people to elect who they want and replace it with a "merit" system, the kind which gave us William Rehnquist. Rehnquist, never a judge on any court, before being appointed to the US Supreme Court, is arguably the worst Chief Justice in American history.

The US Supreme Court has only itself to blame for the "lack of understanding among the people about the role of judges and the importance of maintaining judicial independence." Why are oral arguments not televised? Why should the people care about a court system that always seems to favor the elite? Not only has the court done nothing to educate the people, it's decisions are irrelevant to what most Americans deal with in their daily lives. Ask a person on the street to repeat any court decision and nine times out of ten they will say "you have the right to remain silent." This is the crux our court's role in daily life, echoes of a decision almost 50 years old.

I wish Justice O'Connor well though, she did cast a few decent votes on the court.
Comment By Nick Zales
Sunday, May 11, 2008 at 9:26 AM

Striving for Independence

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