| Show To T- T o 1 10 0 Politics And The 0 0 Judiciary J by James J. J Kilpatrick Ronald Reagan promised the other day that given a chance he would name a woman among his first nominations nominations nominations nomi nomi- nations to the US U.S. Supreme Court The pledge earned him no Brownie points with Eleanor the starchy head of the National Organization for Women she sniffed that Mr Reagan is woman anti anyhow But the statement served to revive discussion of presidents and federal judges We ought to think realistically about these matters Once upon a time the federal judiciary was perceived in Hamilton's Hamiltons Hamiltons Hamilton's Hamiltons Hamilton's Hamil Hamil- tons ton's phrase as beyond comparison the weakest of the three departments of power That innocent conception vanished vanished vanished van van- long ago In recent years our society has become ever more addicted to litigation and in this same period the Congress has created even more issues to litigate about Federal judges have assumed powers powers and and they have exercised exercised exercised exer exer- those powers powers powers-in in ways that Hamilton could never have foreseen Yet it is a curious thing as Sen Orrin Hatch remarks in inThe inThe inThe The American Spectator that so little attention ordinarily is paid to judicial nominations Federal judges serve during good behavior which is to say for life Who are these powerful individuals We know far less about them than we know about the typical senator who serves for six years or the representative who serves for two Nominations to the federal bench go to the Senate Judiciary Committee for confirmation hearings There is usually no press and no audience Senator Hatch remarks Sometimes six or seven nominees are processed processed processed pro pro- by the committee within an hour Barring unforeseen developments these nominations are approved by the committee committee committee com com- without debate by a voice vote and reported to the full Senate where they are approved finally under similar circumstances The judges thus casually entrenched for life are the products products products pro pro- ducts of an essentially political process Political Considerations The political considerations come in two varieties plain politics and ideological politics Judges are nominated to reward reward reward re re- ward the faithful to curry favor with influential senators senators senators sena sena- tors and to win the support of such voting blocs as blacks Spanish-Americans Spanish Jews and Catholics But judges also are appointed to further the political philosophy of the appointing president Mr Nixon wanted stout conservatives conservatives conservatives conserva conserva- tives Mr Carter by contrast wants activist liberals To a degree not widely understood Mr Carter is having having having hav hav- ing his way Under the Omnibus Judgeship Act of 1978 Mr Carter has been able to name new district judges and 35 additional circuit judges Before his term expires in January the president will have nominated nearly half of all our federal judges According to a study by the American Ameri Ameri- can Judicature Society only 3 per cent of his nominees view themselves as conservative Virtually all the rest are Democrats who identify their views as moderate liberal liberal liberal lib lib- eral or very liberal Toward the end of his life Thomas Jefferson turned away from the idea of a judiciary with life tenure He favored amendment to provide for specific terms on the bench Considering the power now exercised by judges power judges power that thatis is for most purposes unrestrained power power power-I I am more and more persuaded that Jeffersons Jefferson's view is sound Assuming the appointment of judges who are political in every sense it makes sense to contrive political restraints upon them |
