A Law Unto Herself

by Ann Althouse - August 23rd, 2006 - New York Times

To end her opinion in American Civil Liberties Union v. National Security Agency — the case that enjoins President Bush’s warrantless surveillance program — Judge Anna Diggs Taylor quoted Earl Warren (referring to him as “Justice Warren,” not “Chief Justice Warren,” as if she wanted to spotlight her carelessness): “It would indeed be ironic if, in the name of national defense, we would sanction the subversion of ... those liberties ... which makes the defense of the nation worthwhile.”

As long as we’re appreciating irony, let’s consider the irony of emphasizing the importance of holding one branch of the federal government, the executive, to the strict limits of the rule of law while sitting in another branch of the federal government, the judiciary, and blithely ignoring your own obligations.

That this judge is being ridiculed for practicing "the rule of judges" is indeed an example of irony. It is the irony that those who support her ruling are more angry at her than those who oppose her since she ruled so ignorantly that she hurt her own cause.

What is ignored by those on the left in their criticism is that they don't seem to hide their acceptance that she arrived at the decision by what she wanted rather than by law. They are mad because she did not hide that process well. By this denuciation of her ruling they are making it obvious they recognize the normal activist judge does the exact same thing, rules by whim, but does a better job of hiding that ruling by whim. "The rule of judges" is the norm for our courts today. You have to laugh at the judges who defend that now standard reality as they are exposed for the bigots they are.

I also have to share this quote from the editorial writers of the Wall Street Journal describing the judges legal opinion, claiming she". . . . reaches the utterly ludicrous conclusion that the First Amendment guarantees Americans the right to engage in private communications with enemy agents during wartime."

If this wasn't so serious . . . it really would be funny.


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