Kennedy sees peril for U.S. judiciary

[4dsc]

http://www.dmregister.com/news/stories/c4780927/22595733.html

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy warned at a Des Moines appearance Saturday that the independence of the judiciary faces new threats.

"Judicial independence is threatened not just by active hostility but by benign and unconscious neglect," said Kennedy at the dedication of the Opperman Center at Drake University, the new headquarters of the American Judicature Society.

The national organization, formerly based at Loyola University in Chicago, is a strong advocate of judicial independence and reform. The 90-year-old society also works to increase public understanding of the judicial system. Members include judges, lawyers and others.

Kennedy, who has served on the Supreme Court since 1988, said judges often need allies because of their detachment from the rest of government and society as a whole. Contrary to what people might think, judges don't have access to power, he said.

[joeybee12]

1. He might have some credibility if it weren't for Bush v Gore

Although I gather he was wavering--can't say that about the other four.

[0rganism]

3. Do you ever wonder if he was threatened?

The BFEE works like a mafia. What they can't get legitimately, they steal. What they can't steal, they extort. Justices Kennedy and O'Conner seem too smart to buy into Scalia's "pro curium" decision on its own merits, and insufficiently rabid partisans to do it just because they like republicans. That leaves pressure...

But I speculate. Never mind.

[On the Road]

2. Funny He Should be Talking About Judicial INDEPENDENCE

Maybe's there's a hint there that he's been personally pressured. Maybe he has a bad conscience. Maybe he's been appalled by Pat Reobertson's calls for the deaths of non-Scalia justices.

And maybe he's done a Sandra Day O'Connor. Just when the Republicans thought it was safe to go to the Supreme Court, two of the swing votes get cold feet.

[TahitiNut]

4. Suggestion: "(Justice) Kennedy sees peril for U.S. judiciary"

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