Supreme Court Nominations

There is an interesting pair of editorials in the New York Times, one by Dahlia Lithwick and another by a state trial judge in Denver (If you are short of time, I would read the Lithwick article). The two articles complement each other though its obvious that the two writers have opposing views. Dahlia Lithwick argues that the nomination of John Roberts and Harriet Miers follows a pattern of President Bush's. By nominating Roberts, the president ensured that there would be one more judge in the nation's highest court that limits judicial power. Roberts believes that judges should strictly interpret the law of the land, thereby giving deference to the executive and legislative brances. Miers, being loyal to the current president, would also defer to the executive branch. Lithwick aptly sums up, "Justice Roberts and Ms. Miers represent a one-two punch for presidential supremacy." All I can say is hopefully Bush will be out of office before Roberts and Miers have a chance to make an impact. The other article contrasts the styles of judges who strictly interpret the law and "activist" judges. He clearly does not like "activist" judges and seems to think an "activist" judge is analogous to "a philosopher-king unencumbered by the legislation of mere mortals". It is hard for me to whole-heartedly disagree with this author, because he does not provide specific examples of "activist" judges gone wrong. But, I do think the framers of our Constitution would have wanted judges to think independently about the case at hand since our Constitution and laws provide a general framework, but are an imperfect system. There is no way to accurately represent every single legal case that might occur in a Constitution and a set of laws.

I feel obligated now to comment on the columnists Op-Eds since I have started doing that. All I can say is that Friedman's article rather bored me. He has gotten a bit carried away with the word "globalization".

Is it just me or does CNN, every other day, have a headline about someone being bit by a shark? Tragic as shark bites are, they are still extremely unlikely -- not nearly as likely as a car crash, but perhaps they are just going for sensational stories that attract more readers.