Legislating from the Bench


"[The Supreme Court] is a totally different ball game . . . A circuit court judge is bound by stare decisis. They don't get to make new law. They have to abide by [legal precedent]." -- Senator Joe Biden on Face the Nation explaining why they would filibuster Janice Rogers Brown for Supreme Court, right after confirming her for the Appeals Court.

(Hat tip to Sgt. Fluffy)


Category:  Notable Quotables
Comments (7)      top   link me

Comments

Is it just me, or have these guys lost so much respect for the public that they don't even attempt to lie and hide their true beliefs anymore? These little slips are just too revealing, frequent, and remarkably consistent to be honest mistakes.

Either that, or the Democratic "leadership" is just painfully stupid these days.

Posted by: roger at July 6, 2005 9:08 AM

Senator Biden is not the brightest lightbulb on the sign.

Posted by: kjo at July 6, 2005 1:46 PM

Supreme Court gets to make 'New Law'
WTF
No wonder they replaced 'civics class' with 'environmental health'

Posted by: GrampaPinhead at July 6, 2005 3:38 PM

Wow, how the heck did you find my site? Anyway, thanks for the recognition

Posted by: Sgt Fluffy at July 6, 2005 9:24 PM

We have a vast network of spies covering every corner of the internet.

Posted by: Ravenwood at July 6, 2005 9:52 PM

There actually are at least two good reasons why someone they just confirmed for the Appeals Court would not necessarily be a shoo-in for the Supreme Court:

1) The job requirements are higher.

2) An Appeals judge that makes strange and unexplainable rulings just makes the SC go to the work of slapping her down, but there's no appeal from the SC except to pass a Constitutional Amendment. Or impeachment.

Obviously #2 is what Biden was thinking of, but in his phrasing he got his job mixed up with hers (present or proposed). Biden can write new law, subject to the Constitution getting a majority of the Senate and House to agree, and a Presidential signature or a 2/3 majority to override a veto. The Courts should only interpret the laws (which includes the Constitution as the highest law).

What Biden is afraid of isn't that Justice Janice might make new law, but that she'd be likely to overturn some of the old new law made by previous Justices that didn't respect the limits of their job.

Posted by: markm at July 7, 2005 6:05 PM

"A circuit court judge is bound by stare decisis."

Thats part of the problem: too many people claim/believe that line of bull****.

My copy of the U.S. Constitution does not say any such thing. It does however say: "This Constitution, and the Laws of the United States which shall be made in Pursuance thereof, ..., shall be the supreme Law of the Land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, ..." (Article VI, clause 2). And also: " ... and judicial Officers, both of the United States and of the several States, shall be bound by Oath of Affirmation, to support this Constitution; ..." (Article VI, clause 3).

Every judge, in EVERY decision, should follow the constitution itself -- NOT what some other judge said at some other time about some other case. If this leads to uncertainty as to how judges will rule then the solution is provided by Article V: amend the damn thing to remove the ambiguity!

Posted by: bob reynolds at July 8, 2005 10:25 PM

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