A Guide for Judging Government Activities
The most useful question to ask when considering a proposed government activity is: Would I trust my worst enemy with the power?
For example, when we apply it to the proposal to abolish the filibuster for judges, we can clearly see we don't want it. The Democrats were in control of both the Presidency and the Senate as recently as eleven years ago we'll need filibusters if it happens again.
On the other hand, in the case of Terri Schindler Schiavo, the question becomes: Would I trust my worst enemy with the ability to interfere in legal decisions one at a time in a very awkward manner with every step exposed to public scrutiny? I think we could live with that.
1 Comments:
1. We never used the power to filibuster judicial appointments before; nor did they, for that matter. Nobody's ever found it useful before, so why should we mind if it disappears?
2. If we keep it so we can use it later, what on earth makes you think they won't abolish it the minute they get the majority? We're never going to get to use it, even if we decided we wanted to. By abolishing it now, at least we stop them from using it.
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