Thursday, November 4, 2010

Wisdom from Mustang Bobby

On the other hand, the campaign in Iowa led by Rep. Steven King to recall three of the Supreme Court judges who ruled for marriage equality was successful, which means that there are still those odious folks who think that equality under the law is an offense.

I have a problem with the idea of subjecting judges to the political process. A lot of states, including Florida, put judges up for retention every so often, and in some states, including Florida, they run for their job just like a county commissioner or attorney general. But judges have to be able to rule on cases and laws impartially, and it's going to happen -- as is the case in Iowa -- where they are going to have to hand down rulings that the majority of the people don't like. That's especially true when you're dealing with laws that impact minorities. That is why federal judges receive lifetime appointments; it removes them from the whims and tug of politics and keeps the threat of removal for temporarily unpopular actions from tainting their rulings. Think about where this country would be if the nine members of the United States Supreme Court had to stand for election or retention every so often. The law would be a hash.

Let's hope that the lesson from Iowa is that money and fear-mongering is not the way to change the law


odious folks - mmmnnn seems like a good way to describe them to me.

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