Scalia Suggests Activist Judges Led to the Holocaust
Scalia opened his talk with a reference to the Holocaust, which happened to occur in a society that was, at the time, “the most advanced country in the world.” One of the many mistakes that Germany made in the 1930s was that judges began to interpret the law in ways that reflected “the spirit of the age.” When judges accept this sort of moral authority, as Scalia claims they’re doing now in the U.S., they get themselves and society into trouble.
Scalia was nominated to the Supreme Court by President Ronald Reagan in 1986 and was approved by the Senate, 98-0. Such a result would be impossible in modern-day Washington, D.C., where a judicial nominee’s integrity and legal credentials take a back seat to his or her political leanings.
“I’m not happy about the intrusion of politics into the judicial-appointment process,” Scalia said. But the politicization of the judiciary is a natural outgrowth of the work that today’s judges are doing.
“If you’re in a system where the judges do the constitutional draftsman’s work, I think you have to accept the politicization of the appointment and confirmation process,” he said.
Scalia received a standing ovation.
http://www.aspentimes.com/news/7382102-113/scalia-judges-society-court
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When it comes to judicial activism, conservative judges are no better than liberal ones - and, it must be said, no worse. If conservatives are going to continue their war on the judiciary, though, they should be honest. They do not want to get rid of judicial activists, a standard that would bring down even Justice Scalia. They want to rid the courts of judges who disagree with them.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/19/opinion/19tue3.html?_r=0
