Why ideology matters on the Supreme Court
A brief note on those who have criticized conservatives for their focus on ideology as a necessary consideration for Bush's Supreme Court picks:
Ideally, our political system would be at the place where justices could be evaluated on the basis of their legal acumen alone. But that is not an option when the Court has not only ruled on a contentious political issue (in violation of earlier procedural norms of judicial restraint) but settled that issue in a morally reprehensible way (in violation of substantive norms against--at the very least--depriving of life without due process of law), there is no option but to fight the necessary political battles to save innocent lives and salvage the legitimacy of our laws and institutions.
When a significant part of the population strongly believes that fetal life is human life and thus that abortion is murder, it serves no one's interests to have the highest court in the land insist not only that abortion is all right but that it is not even a matter for serious consideration by our democratically elected representatives. Are we to expect these people to simply accept abortion as "settled law"? They won't, and--given their presuppositions--they should not. Are we to expect them to teach their children that in America every citizen has a voice, that the legislative branch takes our most deeply held concerns seriously, and that the judiciary actually upholds justice? They won't--at least not without their fingers crossed.
The only thing that can salvage what is left of our political culture's civility is to return this issue to the state-legislative level. Let the fifty states be fifty laboratories in which different ways to balance the concerns of both sides can be tried out. Let committed pro-lifers and committed pro-choice activists hammer out mutually acceptable solutions (not an easy prospect, but not impossible either). Both sides demand a political conversation about this question. But a judicial hearing is--quite rightly--not the place for it.
The solution? Send the abortion issue back to the states and the people where it belongs. That's not playing politics with the Court. It's sending politics back where it belongs: with the people.
- JCE
Ideally, our political system would be at the place where justices could be evaluated on the basis of their legal acumen alone. But that is not an option when the Court has not only ruled on a contentious political issue (in violation of earlier procedural norms of judicial restraint) but settled that issue in a morally reprehensible way (in violation of substantive norms against--at the very least--depriving of life without due process of law), there is no option but to fight the necessary political battles to save innocent lives and salvage the legitimacy of our laws and institutions.
When a significant part of the population strongly believes that fetal life is human life and thus that abortion is murder, it serves no one's interests to have the highest court in the land insist not only that abortion is all right but that it is not even a matter for serious consideration by our democratically elected representatives. Are we to expect these people to simply accept abortion as "settled law"? They won't, and--given their presuppositions--they should not. Are we to expect them to teach their children that in America every citizen has a voice, that the legislative branch takes our most deeply held concerns seriously, and that the judiciary actually upholds justice? They won't--at least not without their fingers crossed.
The only thing that can salvage what is left of our political culture's civility is to return this issue to the state-legislative level. Let the fifty states be fifty laboratories in which different ways to balance the concerns of both sides can be tried out. Let committed pro-lifers and committed pro-choice activists hammer out mutually acceptable solutions (not an easy prospect, but not impossible either). Both sides demand a political conversation about this question. But a judicial hearing is--quite rightly--not the place for it.
The solution? Send the abortion issue back to the states and the people where it belongs. That's not playing politics with the Court. It's sending politics back where it belongs: with the people.
- JCE
posted by The Eastvold Blog at 8:22 PM
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