Supreme Farce: Part II

by Thomas Sowell - December 14th, 2006 - Townhall.com

In a recent interview, Justice Stephen Breyer claimed that laws are "not clear," so that judges are forced to base their decisions on the "values" they see behind the laws, rather than the specific words in those laws.

"Not clear" is an old ploy and "values" are a blank check.

This is the problem with our courts. We no longer have the "rule of law". We have the "rule of judges". Down this road there is but a single result. Tyranny and totalitarian rule by the arrogant.

The question America must ask is whether anyone has the will to stop it. The recent elections put the brakes on one of the few issues on which George Bush has performed fairly well. I still do not trust his MBA style of management of our nation, but he set up a process of selecting judges who at least are willing to fight against the activism of the left with activism of the right. That is now ended.

What scares me is whether this does not open the floodgates to more activism, and more open activism, by all judges. However the one thing we can tell is that conservative judges will have a tough time getting appointed after the recent elections. That means we are back to liberal "values" as the basis for court decisions.

And that permits judicial power to trump democracy. Welcome to the "rule of judges".