Sandra Day O’Connor, just weeks after vacating her seat on the Supreme Court, said the darndest thing earlier this month.“We must be ever vigilant against those who would strongarm the judiciary,” National Public Radio quoted O’Connor as saying during remarks March 9 at Georgetown University. “It takes a lot of degeneration before a country falls into dictatorship, but we should avoid these ends by avoiding these beginnings.”
A former Supreme Court justice — a Reagan appointee, no less — is using the dictatorship card.
O’Connor’s thinly veiled targets were a few lawmakers whose first reaction of late to court decisions they disagree with is to start issuing threats. Last year, two Texas Republican congressmen, Sen. John Cornyn and Rep. Tom DeLay, went far out of the mainstream in slamming federal judges. Speaking about recent violent attacks on judges and their families, Cornyn seemed to blame the victims, suggesting that they were practically asking for it.
The Terri Schiavo case brought out the worst in DeLay and others. Judges who ruled against his wishes were part of an “arrogant, out-of-control, unaccountable judiciary that thumbed their nose at Congress and the president.” And what’s DeLay’s fix? “The time will come for the men responsible for this to answer for their behavior,” he said.
O’Connor’s answer: “We must be ever vigilant against those who would strongarm the judiciary.”
Of course, she’s right. This nation isn’t ruled by mullahs who stand as arbiters of what is and is not acceptable.
The Founding Fathers established a democracy to be governed through laws and independent judges. The founders themselves had to contend with the fools and demagogues of their day who would probably have been prepared to lock up a judge to prevent their side from losing a cause. Fortunately, the rule of law carried the day and has served this nation well.
Comfort can be taken in the fact that moderate voices of reason such as O’Connor’s still speak out for that wonderful principle.
