Independent, Impartial and Fair Judges

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, speaking at an event organized by Christian groups trying to rally churchgoers to support an end to judicial filibusters against judicial nominees, called for the judiciary to “be independent, impartial and fair” via a videotaped message, the AP reported.

The Yellow Line wholly endorses Frist’s comments on this aspect of the issue. A central tenant of our constitutional system is the independence and impartiality of our judicial system.

Regardless of whether or not one supports the politics behind judicial filibusters and the threats to end filibusters through the “nuclear option,” one cannot argue that the end result should be a judiciary that is independent, impartial and fair. Thus, the Yellow Line must question those who criticize judicial activism while calling for judges to be selectively active. These individuals would include:

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX), among others, who has called for investigations and possible impeachment of judges they describe as activists.

Members of the US Congress, as well as President Bush and Florida Governor Jeb Bush, who supported federal judicial intervention in the Schiavo case.

R. Albert Mohler, Jr., president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, in the same CNN article Sen. Frist was quoted in, who claimed that putting more evangelicals on the court would mean rulings more in tune with the religious convictions of churchgoers.

"We are not asking for persons merely to be moral," Mohler said. "We want them to be believers in the Lord Jesus Christ."

The end of judicial filibusters, leading to the end of restraint in the selection of judges, poses a greater threat to the independence, impartiality, and fairness of our judiciary than any "activist judge."