Rehnquist’s Defense of the Federal Judiciary

08 January 2005 |permalink | email article

Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, 80, celebrated his 33nd anniversary on the court on Friday. Battling thyroid cancer, he has been invited by the President to administer the oath of office on Jan. 20. While it remains uncertain whether he will be able to carry out the duty, he will not preside on Monday when the Supreme Court returns from holiday. On New Year’s Eve, Rehnquist made front-page news in his 19th year-end report on the federal judiciary. Given new tensions over the appointment of future federal jurists, and a demand by right-wing militants that they must be “strict constructionists,” the report’s candor may offend fellow conservatives and angry letter writers. But it reflects considerable credit on Rehnquist.

Rehnquist in the past has repeatedly discussed the need to safeguard the independence of federal judges from intrusive Congressional oversight. But the new report leaves no doubt about his concern at the tone of more pointed attacks on judges and the need to protect them from political threats. Since 2000, when Republicans took control of the White House and Congress, conservatives have focused their anger on judicial activists. The report did not mention names but lashed out at “mounting criticism of judges for engaging in what is often referred to as ‘judicial activism.’ ” House majority leader Tom DeLay has often threatened to impeach liberal-leaning judges for rulings such as the ban on school-sponsored prayer.

The chief justice also criticized threats to impeach “activist” justices for their interpretations of the Constitution. Rehnquist has faulted both Republicans and Democrats in the past when their actions and ideas threatened the courts. He chided Senate Republicans for blocking votes on judicial nominees of President Clinton and, more recently, faulted Senate Democrats for blocking votes on Bush’s judicial nominees. That debate is white hot again. Dr. James C. Dobson, the nation’s most powerful evangelical leader, has raised the 2004 “moral values” debate to a higher level of direct partisan engagement by threatening six Senate Democrats with defeat in 2006 if they block conservative nominees to the Supreme Court. But in an “open letter to the Christian church” last month, born-again former Nixon aide Charles Colson, an influential Christian conservative, warned against threats to the president or other elected officials. “To think that way demeans the Christian movement.”  

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