Friday, June 16, 2006
Against the Tide of Babble
The judiciary is a bulwark and a check preventing the popular will from overwhelming the laws of the Constitution.
But it's clear to me from the criticism and the public consumption of the criticism that we're not doing a very good job as judges educating the public how we work.
Once again, Federal Judge John E. Jones III, author of the decision holding Intelligent Design to be impermissible in public school science classes under the Constitution, is trying to correct the public's ignorance of the judiciary's proper role in a democracy, this time by speaking at the annual meeting of the Anti-Defamation League at Temple Emanuel in Denver. Noting that he had been the subject of political attacks by conservative commentators such as Ann Coulter, Phyllis Schlafly and Bill O'Reilly (who called Jones a "fascist" the night of the decision), Jones has been speaking out about the importance of judicial independence.
He just goes on making sense.
