Here's one of the hidden things we have to fight. Pretty difficult, unless the judges run for office.
http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/081900/opi_3837177.html
LAW: Chips off the block
The federal bench is well-salted with judges who interpret the Constitution to mean not what it says but what they wish it said. They are the product of law schools that teach it is the proper role of the judiciary to legislate.
A Northwestern University study puts things in perspective. More than 80 percent of the professors in the nation's top 100 law schools are Democrats and just 13 percent are Republicans, it con- cludes. Two of the most under-represented groups are Christians and female Republicans.
Until recently, the report adds, Harvard had not hired a Republican-leaning professor in 26 years.
As a result, in the words of a legal group called the Federalist Society, students are taught "a form of orthodox liberal ideology which advocates a centralized and uniform society," and those views "are taught simultaneously with (and indeed as if they were) the law."
When a student suggests that the judiciary's job is to interpret the law, rather than write it, his thoughts are summarily dismissed -- in the words of Insight magazine, "as if they were from a childish Etch-a-Sketch in an age of electronic word processors."
The Insight article continues:
"Most libertarian and conservative students interviewed for this article from Yale to the University of San Francisco said they rarely speak up in class and that they always 'write liberal' on exams because they fear professors might grade them down for espousing dissenting viewpoints."
Coming from such an academic environment, it's little wonder many judges are liberal.
The late Felix Frankfurter was an anomaly by today's standards, a liberal ideologue and a strict constructionist. But he served on the Supreme Court during Franklin Roosevelt's presidency, and the way to further the liberal agenda in that era was not to interfere with the other branches of government.
If he were still a justice today, he could be a liberal activist or a strict constructionist, but not both.
But, agree with him or not philosophically, Frankfurter was right on target when he said: "In the last analysis, the law is what the lawyers are. And the law and the lawyers are what the law schools make them."
That is why, to restore the balance of powers, a new enlightenment is needed at law schools -- or, at least tolerance toward diversity of thought and a respect for precedent.
© The Florida Times-Union
------------------
"The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside
the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light." (Romans 13:12)
http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/081900/opi_3837177.html
LAW: Chips off the block
The federal bench is well-salted with judges who interpret the Constitution to mean not what it says but what they wish it said. They are the product of law schools that teach it is the proper role of the judiciary to legislate.
A Northwestern University study puts things in perspective. More than 80 percent of the professors in the nation's top 100 law schools are Democrats and just 13 percent are Republicans, it con- cludes. Two of the most under-represented groups are Christians and female Republicans.
Until recently, the report adds, Harvard had not hired a Republican-leaning professor in 26 years.
As a result, in the words of a legal group called the Federalist Society, students are taught "a form of orthodox liberal ideology which advocates a centralized and uniform society," and those views "are taught simultaneously with (and indeed as if they were) the law."
When a student suggests that the judiciary's job is to interpret the law, rather than write it, his thoughts are summarily dismissed -- in the words of Insight magazine, "as if they were from a childish Etch-a-Sketch in an age of electronic word processors."
The Insight article continues:
"Most libertarian and conservative students interviewed for this article from Yale to the University of San Francisco said they rarely speak up in class and that they always 'write liberal' on exams because they fear professors might grade them down for espousing dissenting viewpoints."
Coming from such an academic environment, it's little wonder many judges are liberal.
The late Felix Frankfurter was an anomaly by today's standards, a liberal ideologue and a strict constructionist. But he served on the Supreme Court during Franklin Roosevelt's presidency, and the way to further the liberal agenda in that era was not to interfere with the other branches of government.
If he were still a justice today, he could be a liberal activist or a strict constructionist, but not both.
But, agree with him or not philosophically, Frankfurter was right on target when he said: "In the last analysis, the law is what the lawyers are. And the law and the lawyers are what the law schools make them."
That is why, to restore the balance of powers, a new enlightenment is needed at law schools -- or, at least tolerance toward diversity of thought and a respect for precedent.
© The Florida Times-Union
------------------
"The night is nearly over; the day is almost here. So let us put aside
the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light." (Romans 13:12)