Friday, August 06, 2010

Predicting Justice Kennedy:

I didn't have much to say on the newest Prop. 8 ruling, but what little I did say got linked by Andrew Sullivan, which I always appreciate.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig/brown.html relates the compelling story of how Brown v. Education became a unanimous essentially because it had to be unanimous as well as some interesting "insider" type trading by Justice Frankfurter. Rockwell shows that rule of law doesn't always trump the kritarchy (rule by judge). And, gloria, he mentions King Alfred, "The Brown decision was the product of an ex parte dialogue between a sitting judge (Frankfurter) and a litigant (Elman), which transgressed the fundamental ethical norms for judges that have changed little since English King Alfred the Great's legal reforms after his triumph over the Danes in the year 878. The bedrock of the system of justice that we have inherited is the impartiality of judges. Judges are required to conduct themselves in a manner that promotes public confidence in the integrity and the objectivity of the judiciary and must avoid even the appearance of impropriety. But in Brown, Frankfurter, in effect, received an ongoing brief from the government, to which neither Thurgood Marshall nor John Davis had a chance to reply." A very interesting read.