Here President Bush attempts to strangle Judge Silberman for being insifficiently loyal to conservative causes.
Judge Laurence H. Silberman, a senior judge on the federal appeals court, cast the deciding vote as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upheld, 2-1, the constitutionality of the controversial individual mandate. The mandate, which is almost certain to be reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court, is the linchpin of President Obama’s health-care insurance law that requires most individuals to purchase insurance coverage or be fined.
You can hardly have more impeccable conservative or Republican credentials than Silberman. He served in the Nixon administration, was appointed by President Reagan to the court and is a Federalist Society stalwart as well as a favorite judicial scholar of the political right. An appeals judge shouldn’t be praised for doing his job, which is deciding cases based on the law and the Constitution rather than political loyalties or ideological bias. Unfortunately, political loyalties and ideology is how the press, partisan groups, elected officials and, it must be said, too many judges, do think cases are decided, and that belief grievously harms faith in the justice system and trust in the rule of law. Continue reading
