11 May 2006

A Fair Question

What if SCOTUS justices began to make recommendations to Congress and the White House about specific legislation and policies? What if they had press conferences, went on Meet the Press, etc.-- to express their views about what the other branches of government should or should not do?

Would you have a problem with that?
Is there any reason to accept one branch of government exerting control over other branches? Isn't this specifically what the Founders sought to prevent?

So why is it that no one bats an eye when the White House tells the other branches what to do? Is it because it happens with such regularity that it "hides in the open"? Shouldn't the White House mind its own business and do its own job instead of sticking its nose into Congress and the Courts?

When members of Congress jumped on the 'criticize the courts' bandwagon, no one brought up the issue of whether Congress has any business at all in telling the courts how to operate. Public and pundit discussion was limited to the squawking parrots of the right and center (aka "the left").

There are plenty of items on the "Why Republicans are not conservative" list, and now we can add this one. A bona fide conservative would be up in arms over this-- it is incongruent with the basic premise of government structure intended by the Founders.

2 comments:

Mark said...

To a lot of people, checks and balances only apply to political parties they disagree with. I think that's why so many right-wingers are having hissy fits about Hillary--they realize what she could do with all the power they handed Bush.

Libertarian Jason said...

You know, this is an excellent point I had never thought of before. Thanks!