Judicial Activism Revisited

This weekend, CNN.com has expanded on the judicial activism issue with a new poll and interview.

Former Justice Sandra Day O'Connor gave CNN's "Broken Government" series an interview where she espoused worry about Congressional crictism of the Supreme Court. "I saw increasing indicators of unhappiness with judges," O'Connor said, "We heard all kinds of statements by members of Congress, by state legislators. We saw legislation introduced to somehow restrict or affect judges at both the state and federal levels." She's very uncomfortable with the growing number of politicians' using the term "activist judges" saying that "...to see our courts now, under such serious attack, is a concern..."

According to a CNN poll released Saturday, American citizens aren't siding with the politicians on this issue. Sixty-seven percent of 1,013 people surveyed by Opinion Research Corp. on behalf of CNN said they did not think elected officials should have more control over federal judges and the decisions they make in court cases. Kathleen Sullivan, former dean of Stanford Law School recognizes the importance of judicial freedom in a related CNN article, saying "We're in a very perilous time when the independence of the courts is vital to making sure the president doesn't go too far, even in an act of well-meaning zeal, to keep the fabric of our Constitution together."

One woman firmly rooted in the 30% wanting more control is Phyllis Schafly, whose book The Supremacists: The Tyranny of Judges and How to Stop It was re-released in a revised, updated, and expanded version. SCOTUSblog featured Mrs. Schafly in their Ask the Author series this week. Read their two part interview here and here.