Posted by
Andrews on Tuesday, June 09, 2009 6:34:23 PM
In today's WSJ editorial page there is
an interesting article on the
Caperton ruling. It makes some very valid arguments, pointing out that
it is pushing a bias toward appointed rather than elected judges, and
arguing that it will create a public impression that elected judges are
inherently untrustworthy. It makes the connection between the ruling and the Soros-backed push for appointed justices. However, it only lightly touches on two points that are of more interest to me.
First, it glosses over the threat this represents to federalism. As anyone knows who read my "
The Benefits of Federalism", "
Conservatism, Incremental Change and Federalism", "
My Vision of Government" and "
My Vision of Government Part II", I am a strong proponent of federalism and would love to see the government take even some mild steps toward a restoration of states' rights. However, this decision does not only undercut state recusal rules, substituting federal judgment for state, it also tries to impose federal value judgments on the states. By making it harder for elected judges to hear cases, it begins to force states to choose methods other than election to fill the bench. That alone is a massive offense against our supposedly federalist system of government.
The second problem is the inherent logic behind the ruling, especially in the push for selected rather than elected judges.The author makes mention in the final paragraphs of Kennedy's belief in judges as an elect. And that is a point close to my heart. As I wrote in "
The Citizen Dichotomy", "
Inescapable Logic", "
Man's Nature and Government", "
Special Cases" and "
Cognitive Dissonance Part 2", much of liberal, and of authoritarian philosophy is based on the premise of a group of the elect driving herd over the mass of ignorant mankind. And I am afraid, between judicial activism and the push for selected judges, we are seeing the rise of a corresponding philosophy among judges. It is not enough that the legislature thinks itself an elect which must save us form ourselves, it seems we are now to be subjected to a superlegislature formed out of the judiciary which wants to save us form ourselves and the legislature.
If any more people try to save us, I doubt we will have any freedom left at all.