Just a quick reminder of why it is so important that this arrogant woman be ejected from the Supreme Court and rplaced with an originalist/textualist/strict constructionist judge as soon as possible.

"In all my years of my life I don't think I've ever seen relations (between Congress and the high court) as strained as they are now," O'Connor told a conference of judges and lawyers at the 9th Circuit Judicial Conference in Spokane, Washington.

O'Connor is the Supreme Court justice who handles certain matters from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

She said an integral part of the democracy that the United States is promoting around the world is an independent court system.

"And yet, in our country today, we're seeing efforts to prevent that -- a desire not to have an independent judiciary. That worries me," she said.

As an example of the congressional tendency to pick apart court rulings, she cited a March decision that declared the death penalty for juveniles unconstitutional. The ruling noted the weight of international opinion and the fact that only one other country -- Somalia -- executes young offenders.

"Some citations were found very offensive by some members of Congress. I don't personally think it's a good idea to restrict freedom of speech or thought for anybody, even if they are federal judges," O'Connor said.

The reason, Sandy, for the bad relations is that you and your colleagues have strayed further and further from the Constitution in your decisions. You have wandered further and further away from the document that is supposed to be the supreme law of the land. As a result, the American people and their representatives are PISSED-OFF at you people. Yet you, having exceeded your authroity and wandered into a minefield of impeachable offenses, expect everyone to shut up and obey your commands like some sort of incarnate deity.

Let's look at Lawrence, for example. Now I agree with you that the Texas statute was a bad idea and I supported its repeal -- but did it go beyond what is permitted by the Constitution? No, it did not. The court's own decision in hardwick v. Bowers affirmed such statutes less than 20 years before. What changed? What was the basis for this decision in the Constitution? Frankly, there isn't one -- for not one of the Framers would have supported your decision. But you knew better than the Framers, and so amended the Constitution.

And Roper v. Simmons, the case you cite -- it isn't that many years since you upheld the execution of older teens. What changed? one or two state laws -- but hardly enough to make the argument that such executions are seen as cruel and unusual under the Amendment VIII. As for the laws of other nations -- THEY ARE IRRELEVANT TO AMERICAN CONSTITUTIONAL LAW! The laws of the EU, Peru, and Outer Mongolia are not binding upon the United States -- and neither are unratified treaties. In Roper v. Simmons, though, you treated them as having precedent value that exceets that of the US Constitution, the laws of several states, and the court decisions of those states. Yeah -- we Americans, citizens of a nation that strived to be out from under the laws of other nations -- are going to be upset that foreign law will be used to interpret the meaning of our founding document.

Now you claim that you don't think the speech or thoughts of anyone should be restricted -- but that is exactly what you seek when you make this complaint. You want to pressure your opponents into silence. All your talk about an independent judiciary ignores the fact that the judiciary is but one of three branches of the federal government, and that its role is seen as co-equal to those of the executive and legislative branches. Yes, you folks serve as a check on the other two branches, but they also are to check you. They have failed to do so in recent decades, and now that there is a move on to do so you want to stop it. Sorry, Sandy, the time has come to put the Supreme Court back in its proper place.

Posted by: Greg at 04:13 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 731 words, total size 4 kb.