It has been called to my attention that another Supreme Court Justice, Sandra Day O’Connor, expressed her hope that George H.W. Bush would be elected over Michael Dukakis in a 1988 pre-election letter to Senator Barry Goldwater. To be bipartisan about it, I think that was inappropriate as well, but Justice O’Connor’s statement wasn’t made public for many years after that election.
Too many people in this country judge public figures’ actions by whether they agree with the public figures’ politics. I wish that wasn’t so.
I’ve been challenged too by someone who says the judicial canon I quoted yesterday doesn’t apply to the U.S. Supreme Court. I am not a lawyer or a judge and I don’t know whether that person is a lawyer or a judge. I don’t know if the canon applies or not. I just think Justice Ginsberg’s statement was both inappropriate, and contrary to her own political interests.
I also think the Senate should have held hearings on Merrick Garland’s nomination to the court, and that the Supreme Court over at least the past 40-50 years has become entirely too political.
My penultimate comment is that Mr. Wolfson’s tweet which I quoted yesterday had a heart-shaped emoji between I and RGB. The software used to publish the blog somehow managed to remove them. I’m sorry about that and don’t know how to fix it.
Above all, I know (not think) that my opinions on this or any other issue don’t matter to people in power. My opinions are my own. They are given here freely and worth what you paid for them.
