Judge Moore

[Michael MASINTER]

Though I value Rick's contributions to the list, his description of the
"powerful secular elite" sounds like nothing more than the people whose
views on law and religion he thinks are wrong.  I don't know what makes
those people either the powerful or the elite.  If anything, events in
Alabama and, for that matter, at the national level, suggest those folks
have little power at any level of government.

On a more general level, if the assessment of the soundness of judicial
reasoning is to be its approval by "ordinary people" (which I take to be
the majority of the moment), then what is the point of judicial review?
Or was I correct yesterday that Judge Moore's celebrity status derives
from skill in personifying hostility to the institution of judicial review
in republican government?  In that sense, how is he different from the
interpositionists who preceded him in Alabama fifty years?  And isn't
Judge Moore's real enemy Chief Justice Marshall?

Michael R. Masinter                     3305 College Avenue
Nova Southeastern University            Fort Lauderdale, Fl. 33314
Shepard Broad Law Center                (954) 262-6151
masinter at nova.edu                       Chair, ACLU of Florida Legal Panel

On Thu, 9 Aug 2001, Rick Duncan wrote:

> The phrase "powerful secular elite" refers to the
> establishment-types (law profs, journalists, Country
> Club Republicans, etc) who think that Justice Moore's
> display is worse than obscenity. It refers to the kind
> of people who are appalled and cry "censorship" when
> someone complains about NEA money being used to
> subsidize "Piss Christ," and who are equally appalled
> and demand censorship when students wish to pray at a
> football game (or when Justice Moore wishes to display
> the Ten Commandments). In other words, it refers to a
> powerful class of persons who are completely out of
> touch with ordinary people and common sense. If only
> Justice Moore would submerge the Ten Commandments in
> urine, he would became a hero to the powerful secular
> elite.
>
> Cheers, Rick Duncan
>
> --- "Horwitz, Paul" <PHorwitz at OMM.COM> wrote:
> > My guess is that Judge Moore is indeed reasonably
> > popular in the state.  I'm
> > not sure who the "powerful secular elite" refers to
> > in this instance;
> > Governor Siegelman has also expressed support for
> > the public display of the
> > Ten Commandments.  Of course, his sentiment may be
> > in part a political one,
> > but then, so (in part) may Judge Moore's be at this
> > point.  Perhaps the
> > phrase in this instance refers to the Republican
> > establishment interests who
> > opposed his candidacy for the chief justiceship in
> > favor of another
> > Republican candidate.
> >
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>
> =====
> "Do you not think an angel rides in the whirlwind and directs the storm."
>     --President George W. Bush (quoting John Page)
>
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