LEAHY'S BIND: GOOD BEHAVIOR, NOT QUALIFICATIONS
by Peter Moss
The Constitution, Article III, Sec. 1, requires of judges "good behavior", not "qualifications." Yet the American Bar Association and Sen. Leahy always talk only of "qualifications." People I talk to understand that justice is not rocket science and every voter is endowed by his Creator with the ability to administer justice when on jury duty, implicit in the 6th and 7th Amendments of the Constitution. Injustice and unfairness are the worst behavior in which a judge can engage yet patronage judges and lawyers for the rich can and do thwart justice for the underdog every day. As member and now chair of the Judiciary Committee, Senator Leahy has made a career of protecting and confirming unjust professional career judges who protect the power and privileges of the rich. On a talk show on VPR, Leahy openly admitted that he will support both liberal and conservative nominees.
A couple of months ago, the Bush regime dispatched to Vermont Ed Meese, Ed Conner, and Darlene Kennedy to criticize Sen. Pat Leahy for "not caving in to President George W. Bush's increasingly strident efforts to get his right-wing judicial nominees through Leahy's Judiciary Committee," as reported by columnist Peter Freyne. This move was both ironic and self-incriminating considering past condemnations of "litmus testing" of judicial nominees, but if the Bushists would not do it now, they could not pick right-wing nominees. More importantly, why do they test and pick right-wing nominees? Because an overwhelming majority support legal abortions, but radical conservatives oppose abortions with fierce emotion. The conservatives' only hope for pro-life legislation is to seat pro-life right-wing judges on Courts of Appeal, to be nominated for Supreme Court as soon as possible, and thereby create a pro-life majority. Shades of Bork. By why is the pro-life minority important to the rich? Because their conservatism supports the rich unquestioningly, and without pro-life voter support, the rich would lose their political power. Outlawing abortion is the cement that binds the rich and the fiercely emotional pro-lifers into a voting block. Hence the effort to seat a maximum of right-wing judges at all cost.
If elected to the U.S. Senate in 2004, I will propose laws for the Senate to examine judges not for qualifications which are not required by the Constitution because every juror has those qualifications. Judicial nominees are to be examined for good behavior as required by the Constitution, to be based on televised questioning of victimized underdog litigants. Since the worst conduct judges are capable of is injustice or unfairness, judges found to be unfair or unjust would be judged by one of 13 circuit lay juries in televised proceedings and humiliated or defrocked as appropriate.