From a letter to the editor of the American News of Aberdeen, South Dakota. (Via TalkLeft.)
To the Editor - A recent article by Professor Art Marmorstein displayed an alarming misunderstanding of the nature of our government. He stated that judges are either of the John Lennon school or the Bolshevik school. I know judges in South Dakota and most federal judges. The professor is badly mistaken.
He praised James Dobson's Family Policy Council. Dobson in Sioux Falls last year stated that Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy is "the most dangerous man in America." Does that sound like a rational statement? Outlandish statements by Dobson, Pat Robertson and others encourage deranged people to act violently against judges and relatives of judges.
The professor stated: "All they ask is to have men and women on the bench who will defer to the democratic process rather than arbitrarily imposing their own ideas on the rest of us." He assumes judges act arbitrarily. If so, the solution is to go to a higher court. We have three co-equal branches of government. Our founding fathers knew what they were doing. No branch of government blindly "defers" to the other. Our judiciary is intended to protect the constitutional rights of citizens, not blindly endorse unconstitutional actions taken by Congress, the president or a state legislature.
Judges should, of course, respect our elected officials and do our best to not infringe on their prerogatives. Members of Congress should treat the judiciary in the same manner.
Charles B. Kornmann
United States District Judge Aberdeen
Exactly right, your honor.
