http://www.sacbee.com/voices/news/voices01_20000302.html
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>'My constitution': Davis
litmus tests undermine the
judiciary
(Published March 2, 2000)
Does the state employee health plan cover
treatment for megalomania? If so, Gov. Gray
Davis should get to the doctor's office quickly. A
chief executive who thinks he's also First
Legislator and Chief Justice not only risks his
own political health but the independence of the
judiciary and the liberties of Californians.
Davis can't blame any staff member for his latest
gaffe, in which he told reporters Tuesday that the
judges he's appointed should resign if they rule
in cases in ways that contradict the positions he
took in his campaign on abortion and the death
penalty. Davis' imperious statement -- a kind of
"implement my Constitution" command to the
judiciary to go along with his "implement my
vision" order to the Legislature last year -- was
his doing alone.
In fact, his comments plainly contradicted the
assurances his office offered last fall that Davis
was not applying abortion and death-penalty
litmus tests to judicial appointees. "While they
have to follow the law," Davis now says of his
appointees, "they're there because I appointed
them, and they need to keep faith with my
electoral mandate." Davis denies he has litmus
tests, but his own words contradict him.
Legal experts of all political stripes are outraged
and appalled by Davis' comments and practices,
and rightly so. The governor betrayed a
fundamental misunderstanding. Judges answer
to the people in judicial elections, not to the
governor who appointed them. The judiciary is
an independent branch, sworn to uphold the law.
It is not enough to say, as Davis did in a
statement released yesterday, that he fully
respects "the independence of the judiciary."
Respect is a measured by practice, not words.
A governor who insists that his judges follow his
own interpretation of his mandate taints justice
by creating the impression that their decisions in
particular cases follow from a commitment to
specific results. He diminishes public respect
for, and trust in, his own judges. And, ironically,
he undermines the death penalty by providing
grounds to disqualify his appointees from cases
for having made prior commitments.
Picking the wrong judges can create political
problems for a governor, as Davis, former chief
of staff to then-Gov. Jerry Brown, learned. But
Davis has mislearned his lesson. Brown got into
judge trouble with Chief Justice Rose Bird and
others by appointing judges who would follow his
policy preferences. Now Davis is going down the
same path, albeit with different views.
Both were wrong. Judges should be skilled,
independent, fair and committed to following the
facts and the law, no matter where they lead --
and no matter the political wishes of a governor
who looks in the mirror and sometimes seems to
think he sees an emperor.[/quote]
------------------
"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes" RKBA!
<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>'My constitution': Davis
litmus tests undermine the
judiciary
(Published March 2, 2000)
Does the state employee health plan cover
treatment for megalomania? If so, Gov. Gray
Davis should get to the doctor's office quickly. A
chief executive who thinks he's also First
Legislator and Chief Justice not only risks his
own political health but the independence of the
judiciary and the liberties of Californians.
Davis can't blame any staff member for his latest
gaffe, in which he told reporters Tuesday that the
judges he's appointed should resign if they rule
in cases in ways that contradict the positions he
took in his campaign on abortion and the death
penalty. Davis' imperious statement -- a kind of
"implement my Constitution" command to the
judiciary to go along with his "implement my
vision" order to the Legislature last year -- was
his doing alone.
In fact, his comments plainly contradicted the
assurances his office offered last fall that Davis
was not applying abortion and death-penalty
litmus tests to judicial appointees. "While they
have to follow the law," Davis now says of his
appointees, "they're there because I appointed
them, and they need to keep faith with my
electoral mandate." Davis denies he has litmus
tests, but his own words contradict him.
Legal experts of all political stripes are outraged
and appalled by Davis' comments and practices,
and rightly so. The governor betrayed a
fundamental misunderstanding. Judges answer
to the people in judicial elections, not to the
governor who appointed them. The judiciary is
an independent branch, sworn to uphold the law.
It is not enough to say, as Davis did in a
statement released yesterday, that he fully
respects "the independence of the judiciary."
Respect is a measured by practice, not words.
A governor who insists that his judges follow his
own interpretation of his mandate taints justice
by creating the impression that their decisions in
particular cases follow from a commitment to
specific results. He diminishes public respect
for, and trust in, his own judges. And, ironically,
he undermines the death penalty by providing
grounds to disqualify his appointees from cases
for having made prior commitments.
Picking the wrong judges can create political
problems for a governor, as Davis, former chief
of staff to then-Gov. Jerry Brown, learned. But
Davis has mislearned his lesson. Brown got into
judge trouble with Chief Justice Rose Bird and
others by appointing judges who would follow his
policy preferences. Now Davis is going down the
same path, albeit with different views.
Both were wrong. Judges should be skilled,
independent, fair and committed to following the
facts and the law, no matter where they lead --
and no matter the political wishes of a governor
who looks in the mirror and sometimes seems to
think he sees an emperor.[/quote]
------------------
"Quis custodiet ipsos custodes" RKBA!