Former top judge says US risks edging near to dictatorship

[Peter Farruggio <pfarr@cal.berkeley.edu>]

> > Former top judge says US risks edging near to dictatorship
> > * Sandra Day O'Connor warns of rightwing attacks
> > * Lawyers 'must speak up' to protect judiciary
> > Julian Borger in Washington
> > The Guardian -- March 13, 2006
> > http://www.guardian.co.uk/frontpage/story/0,,1729656,00.html
> >
> > Sandra Day O'Connor, a Republican-appointed judge who
> > retired last month after 24 years on the supreme court,
> > has said the US is in danger of edging towards
> > dictatorship if the party's rightwingers continue to
> > attack the judiciary.
> > In a strongly worded speech at Georgetown University,
> > reported by National Public Radio and the Chicago Daily
> > Law Bulletin, Ms O'Connor took aim at Republican
> > leaders whose repeated denunciations of the courts for
> > alleged liberal bias could, she said, be contributing
> > to a climate of violence against judges.
> > Ms O'Connor, nominated by Ronald Reagan as the first
> > woman supreme court justice, declared: "We must be
> > ever-vigilant against those who would strong-arm the
> > judiciary."
> > She pointed to autocracies in the developing world and
> > former Communist countries as lessons on where
> > interference with the judiciary might lead. "It takes a
> > lot of degeneration before a country falls into
> > dictatorship, but we should avoid these ends by
> > avoiding these beginnings."
> > In her address to an audience of corporate lawyers on
> > Thursday, Ms O'Connor singled out a warning to the
> > judiciary issued last year by Tom DeLay, the former
> > Republican leader in the House of Representatives, over
> > a court ruling in a controversial "right to die" case.
> > After the decision last March that ordered a brain-dead
> > woman in Florida, Terri Schiavo, removed from life
> > support, Mr DeLay said: "The time will come for the men
> > responsible for this to answer for their behaviour."
> > Mr DeLay later called for the impeachment of judges
> > involved in the Schiavo case, and called for more
> > scrutiny of "an arrogant, out-of-control, unaccountable
> > judiciary that thumbed their nose at Congress and the
> > president".
> > Such threats, Ms O'Connor said, "pose a direct threat
> > to our constitutional freedom", and she told the
> > lawyers in her audience: "I want you to tune your ears
> > to these attacks ... You have an obligation to speak
> > up.
> > "Statutes and constitutions do not protect judicial
> > independence - people do," the retired supreme court
> > justice said.
> > She noted death threats against judges were on the rise
> > and added that the situation was not helped by a senior
> > senator's suggestion that there might be a connection
> > between the violence against judges and the decisions
> > they make.
> > The senator she was referring to was John Cornyn, a
> > Bush loyalist from Texas, who made his remarks last
> > April, soon after a judge was shot dead in an Atlanta
> > courtroom and the family of a federal judge was
> > murdered in Illinois.
> > Senator Cornyn said: "I don't know if there is a cause
> > and effect connection, but we have seen some recent
> > episodes of courthouse violence in this country ... And
> > I wonder whether there may be some connection between
> > the perception in some quarters, on some occasions,
> > where judges are making political decisions yet are
> > unaccountable to the public, that it builds up and
> > builds up to the point where some people engage in
> > violence."
> > Although appointed by a Republican, Ms O'Connor voted
> > with the supreme court's liberals on some divisive
> > issues, including abortion, making her a frequent
> > target for criticism from the right. After announcing
> > that she intended to retire last year at the age of 75,
> > she was replaced in February this year by Samuel Alito,
> > who is generally regarded as being more consistently
> > conservative.
> > In her speech, Ms O'Connor said that if the courts did
> > not occasionally make politicians mad they would not be
> > doing their jobs, and their effectiveness "is premised
> > on the notion that we won't be subject to retaliation
> > for our judicial acts".