Specter and the Courts

In Tuesday's Washington Post, Senate Judiciary Chair Arlen Specter has an editorial about the Court, tee-vee cameras, and branch relations.

He responds to Justices' Thomas and Kennedy's testimony before congress to leave cameras out of the court: "respect us," they say. To which he responds, "But does the Supreme Court respect Congress?"

Highlights:

Within the past decade the court has expanded its super-legislature status by invalidating legislation it dislikes, plucking out of the air a brand-new doctrine that acts of Congress are "disproportionate and incongruent," whatever that means. That led Justice Antonin Scalia to admonish his colleagues for setting the court up as a "taskmaster" to determine whether Congress has done its "homework," a situation that he saw as an "invitation to judicial arbitrariness and policy-driven decision-making."

If the public understood the extent of the court's power, perhaps the electorate would insist that Congress do its job on a variety of issues -- including desegregation, Guantanamo Bay detainees, eminent domain and defendants' rights -- instead of punting to the court. Or perhaps the public would insist that our presidents nominate justices with sensitivity to these matters.