[Infowarrior] - Gonzales raps 'activist' judges

[Richard Forno]

Gonzales raps 'activist' judges
Attorney general says federal jurists should defer to president's will
The Associated Press
Updated: 8:07 a.m. ET Jan 17, 2007
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16668110/

WASHINGTON - Attorney General Alberto Gonzales says federal judges are
unqualified to make rulings affecting national security policy, ramping up
his criticism of how they handle terrorism cases.

In remarks prepared for delivery Wednesday, Gonzales says judges generally
should defer to the will of the president and Congress when deciding
national security cases. He also raps jurists who ³apply an activist
philosophy that stretches the law to suit policy preferences.²

The text of the speech, scheduled for delivery at the American Enterprise
Institute, was obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press. It outlines, in
part, what qualities the Bush administration looks for when selecting
candidates for the federal bench.

³We want to determine whether he understands the inherent limits that make
an unelected judiciary inferior to Congress or the president in making
policy judgments,² Gonzales says in the prepared speech. ³That, for example,
a judge will never be in the best position to know what is in the national
security interests of our country.²

Challenges to Bush policies
Gonzales did not cite any specific activist jurists, or give examples of
national security cases, in his prepared text. The Justice Department is
appealing an August decision by U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor in
Detroit, who ruled the government¹s warrantless surveillance program
unconstitutional and ordered it stopped immediately.

The Justice Department appealed her decision and the 6th U.S. Circuit Court
of Appeals in Cincinnati has ruled that the administration can keep the
program in place during the appeal.

Attorneys representing terrorism suspects held at Guantanamo Bay are
challenging the legality of a law, signed by President Bush in October, that
authorizes military trials. Those challenges raise the possibility that
trials will be struck down by a federal appeals court or the Supreme Court.

Gonzales, a former Texas Supreme Court justice, has in the past warned about
judges who inject their personal beliefs in cases. But his prepared remarks
Wednesday mark his sharpest words over concerns about the federal judiciary
‹ the third, and equal, branch of government.

Judges who ³apply an activist philosophy that stretches the law to suit
policy preferences, they actually reduce the credibility and authority of
the judiciary,² Gonzales says. ³In so doing, they undermine the rule of law
that strengthens our democracy.²

Even so, Gonzales characterized efforts to retaliate against unpopular
rulings as misguided, noting a failed South Dakota proposal to sue or jail
judges for making unpopular court decisions. He also called for Congress to
consider increasing the number of federal judges to handle heavy workloads,
and to offer them higher salaries to lure and keep the best jurists on the
bench.
© 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be
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URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16668110/