On Wed, 16 Jan 2002 17:01:54 -0500 "Heer, Jeet" <JHeer at nationalpost.com>
writes:
> Toobin's comments strike me as historically short-sighted. Did
> liberals
> invent judicial activism? What about all the conservative decisions
> of the
> 19th and early 20th century, upholding segregation and striking down
> social
> reforms? The period from the 1950s to the early 1970s was only a
> small
> liberal island in a sea of judicial conservatism, I would argue.
Back then liberals and leftists were usually strongly opposed to judicial activism. The Socialist Party under Eugene Debs for instance called for stripping the Supreme Court of the power to declare legislation to be unconsitutional, on the grounds that this was undemocratic, as I recall.
Jim F.
>
> > ----------
> > From: Doug Henwood
> > Reply To: lbo-talk at lists.panix.com
> > Sent: Wednesday, January 16, 2002 16:31
> > To: lbo-talk
> > Subject: litigation and politics
> >
> > An excerpt from a profile of legal writer Jeffrey Toobin in
> > Publishers Weekly, January 11, 2000
> > <http://www.publishersweekly.com/articles/20000110_83934.asp>:
> >
> > >"My thesis about the Clinton scandals relates a great deal to the
>
> > >evolution of political culture and the political class in this
> > >country," Toobin says with zeal. "Like any storyteller, I love a
> > >good irony. And basically what happened is part of a larger
> > >development that is regrettable, I think: that the political left
> in
> > >this country, using Thurgood Marshall's work as a model, started
> > >using litigation as substitute for other political action. This
> was
> > >done on behalf of the civil rights movement, of feminism, of
> > >environmentalism, and they had some tremendous successes, but
> they
> > >paid a political price, because instead of mobilizing large
> > >constituencies behind their work, all they had to do was persuade
> a
> > >few judges. And that was a problem. First, because some of these
> > >victories turned out to be politically rather hollow, but more
> > >importantly, as far as this story is concerned, they created a
> > >template for the right wing to follow. And that's the irony. It
> was
> > >the Democrats who created the use of civil lawsuits for political
>
> > >gain, it was the Democrats who sponsored the independent counsel
> > >law, and here was the right wing, in the Paula Jones case and in
> the
> > >Starr investigation, using it almost to topple the presidency and
>
> > >overturn the results of an election."
> >
________________________________________________________________ GET INTERNET ACCESS FROM JUNO! Juno offers FREE or PREMIUM Internet access for less! Join Juno today! For your FREE software, visit: http://dl.www.juno.com/get/web/.