The Chronicle‘s Editorial LiveJournalists, who never shy away from offering an opinion on constitutional law (and sometimes create new treaties!), today have decided that it’s wholly inappropriate for area Republicans to offer their opinion on constitutional law to the Fifth Circuit:
Unfortunately, some politicians seem to think an appeal to partisanship can influence how the federal courts rule.
A blatant example can be seen on the Harris County Republican Party Web site. It invites viewers to send a petition to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals jurists who will decide whether former U.S. Rep. Tom DeLay must remain on the November ballot as the GOP candidate for the 22nd District. The petition declares, “Each day that goes by with Democrats perverting the process and denying the public their choice of candidates is a travesty of justice. This deliberate subversion undermines the will of the people and sets a horrible precedent for future elections.”
The petition goes on to urge the justices to remove an injunction issued by U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks, a Republican appointee, keeping DeLay on the ballot. It also asks the court to declare the Republican ballot position officially vacant and allow district voters a fair choice of candidates.
The notion that judges can be influenced by a partisan petition is repugnant to the concept of an independent judiciary.
Apparently, the Editorial LiveJournalists have never heard of the “switch in time that saved nine” (we will spare readers a long digression about the majority’s horrible decision, and Justice Sutherland’s brilliant dissent, in West Coast Hotel v. Parrish). And, apparently, free speech is for the Editorial LiveJournalists, but not for Republicans, who might threaten the very existence of the American regime by expressing a political opinion! On a petition. The horror!
Honestly, efforts to influence the federal judiciary through political rhetoric (or other activism) have a long history, and this student of American political thought doesn’t view it as any kind of particular threat to the regime. Indeed, political speech — even political speech by people other than condescending newspaper editorialists — is sort of a foundation of the regime.
That said, it’s long been my view that the online petition is one of the least efficacious forms of political participation, because it’s generally more about making the participant “feel” better than effecting some political outcome. For the Harris County GOP, though, such participation is highly efficacious, since it helps to build their contact list (for fundraising) and rile up the base. With their latest ill-informed venture into American constitutionalism today, the Editorial LiveJournalists inadvertently helped out the Harris County GOP, by directing even more Republicans to the Harris County GOP website (where they can get fired up, add their email to a list, and maybe even contribute to the GOP). Doh!
BLOGVERSATION: Isolated Desolation, Off the Kuff.
