Posted by Orin Kerr:
Judge Wilkinson Asks Obama Administration Not to "Go For An Ideological
Makeover" Of His Circuit:
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2009_01_18-2009_01_24.shtml#1232739668
In today's [1]Washington Post, Fourth Circuit Judge J. Harvie
Wilkinson has an op-ed advising the Obama Administration on what kind
of people it should pick to join him on the Fourth Circuit. The gist
of the essay is that Obama shouldn't nominate anyone too ideological:
I pray that coming appointments to our court will not cause the
doors of communication and compromise to slam shut. A polarized 4th
Circuit would bring no discernible public benefit. At the end of
the day, it's not lines of battle; it's not us and them. Americans
are in this together, and that includes the courts.
Judge Wilkinson is an excellent judge, and I happen to agree with
the opinions he expresses in the op-ed. But c'mon, is it too much to
expect for the elected branches to do their jobs without judges
weighing in? Nominating judges is the President's job, and confirming
them is the Senate's. Sitting judges -- and especially sitting judges
generally affiliated with the opposite party as both the President and
the majority of the Senate -- have and should have no role in the
process. As I said before when when [2]criticizing Justice Ginsburg,
judges who want judicial independence must see it as a two-way street:
If they want the elected branches to stay out of judicial business,
they should stay out of the business of the elected branches.
References
1.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/22/AR2009012202842.html
2. http://www.opinionjournal.com/federation/feature/?id=110010803
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