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["Marie McHarry" <mmcharry AT dtnspeed.net>]

<<The Supreme Court IS 
the law. And it has become predictably, lamentably partisan. Which is why 
you will now see a horrendous fight over the justice who will replace 
O'Connor, who was often the balance point.>>

A great part of the fear of radical right appointees is not that they will
be strict constructionists or will build on established previous rulings of
the SC, but that they will repair the last 60 or 70 years on constitutional
law by performing their own legislation from the bench.

The one thing that everyone -- at least at this time expects, or says they
expect -- is that judges be conservative in that they don't move too fast.
That's why Justice O'Connor is being showered with accolades from all sides.


In many respects, it's a pity that Roe v. Wade decided the abortion issue
(though if the right to be left alone in personal matters isn't in the
Constitution we need an amendment to that effect) because if the political
process had been left to work itself through the same ends would probably
have been achieved through that process.

The American Experiment is but an extension of British common law, so it is
anchored in tradition and precedent. We should all wish for (or pray for,
depending on our own beliefs) conservative judges of gravity with a deep
grounding in the law. And it doesn't hurt to leaven that mixture with one or
two or more who have had actual legislative experience -- just to keep them
grounded.

Marie