DOCSLIB.ORG

Legal Ethics

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Legal Ethics 642 THE GEORGETOWN JOURNAL OF LEGAL ETHICS IDEOLOGY, JUDICIAL SELECTION AND JUDICIAL ETHICS ERWIN CHEMERINSKY Reprinted from THE GEORGETOWN JOURNAL OF LEGAL ETHICS Volume 2, Number 3, Winter 1989 Copyright © 1989 Georgetown Journal of Legal Ethics 643 Ideology, Judicial Selection and Judicial Ethics ERWIN CHEMERINSKY* In the fail of 1986, there was a bitter fight against the retention of three members of the California Supreme Court, Rose Bird, Joseph Grodin, and Cruz Reynoso. Exactly a year later, the nation's attention focused on the battle over Robert Bork's confirmation to the United States Supreme Court. There were ironic parallels between these two events. In both instances, pub- lic opinion and media reporting played an unprecedented role in the judicial selection process. In each situation, there were arguments over whether the candidates' ideology should be a major factor in the evaluations. Liberals in California argued that assuring judicial inde- pendence required that the evaluation be limited to the justices' competence; that the individuals' ideology and prior votes should play no role in the re- tention election. But the sides were reversed in tflMMMMBtfMHMMWM the liberals who ^rgUcd that B<^^^~^v^ml^giig^t^bmtKHmmK tiv&jfem••91& prior votes asri^Bi^gJHBB^rtii^ Conservatives argued that evaluation should be limited to the nominee's competence—that his ide- ology and prior votes should play no role in the Senate's confirmation decision. A cynic might observe that these experiences reflect a pattern of public rhetoric. If jjnp |n nil kill liriHTfihi liiffti jiniiWHi iilmii ni'^nTiTfrrMTITri'P as an issue in your arguments; bat if your candidate's positions ate against the weight of public opinion, you maintain that ideology is irrelevant and that judicial candidates should be evaluated solely on the basis of profes- sional qualifications. Such an appraisal, while an accurate description of the recent «vents, ig- nores the crucial underlying question of how judicial candida£e& taoeld be evaluated. The issue will certainTy arise in the future, \f^rfto?&$<&:taaot^ than that ideology was successfully used to defeat Bird, Bork/Gfoffin, and* Reynoso. Moreover, the simultaneous election of George Bush as President and of a Democratically controlled Senate will likely lead to conflicts over judicial nominees. While the experiences of the past two years are still fresh in mind, it is important to consider what criteria should be used in evaluating candidates for judicial office. Many scholars have criticized the Senate's re- jection of Bork and the California voters' rejection of Bird, Grodin, and Rey- * Professor of Law, University of Southern California Law Center. I would like to thank Doug- las Cramer and Shirley Paine for their excellent research assistance 643 644 644 GEORGETOWN JOURNAL OF LEGAL ETHICS [Vol. 2:643 noso.' Are these objections valid? If so, how should the process of evaluating judicial candidates be conducted? Allowing such ideological evaluation raises the question of how a person's ideology can be ascertained; what ques- tions may prospective judges be required to answer? The basis for ideological evaluation is discussed in part III. Finally, part IV considers whether such an approach to judicial selection is consistent with the current standards of judicial ethics and, if not, what changes should be made. This article does not directly address the issue of what system for selecting judges—elections or appointments—is best2 Rather, The phrase "judiaaTcandidate" is used throughout this article to refer to a person being considered for any state or federal judicial office. Whether the evaluator is the President, the Senate, a governor, a state legislator, or a voter, the underlying issue is essentially the same: what are the permissible grounds for evaluating potential judges? I. ALTERNATIVE APPROACHES TO EVALUATING JUDGES I can identify three different models that have been advanced as to how judicial candidates should be selected and evaluated. Each has its strong supporters. One might be termed the professional qualifications model. Under this approach, candidates for judicial office—state or federal—should be evaluated only on the basis of their credentials: their education, the nature of their legal practice, their prior judicial experience, and any other indicia of their competence and ability to serve as a judge. The professional qualifica- tions model expressly excludes consideration of an individual's ideology or likely voting in particular cases. For the most part, the criteria used by the American Bar Association in evaluating nominees reflect this model. The American Bar Association's rat- ing of a judicial candidate is based on the individual's "character, tempera- ment, and professional aptitude and experience"; evaluation is not supposed 1. See. eg., Ackennan, Transformative Appointments, 101 HARV. L. REV. 1164 (1988) (criticiz- ing Boric rejection); Udman, California Judicial Retention Elections, 28 SANTA CLARA L. REV. 333 (1988) (criticizing rejection of California Supreme Court Justices in 1986 retention election). 2. However, I do discuss whether differences in the method of selection justify differences in the criteria used in evaluation. See infra text accompanying notes 30-31. 645 1989] JUDICIAL SELECTION 645 to include consideration of the individual's views or ideology.3 The Twenti- eth Century Fund's Task Force on Judicial Selection recently declared that "choosing candidates for anything other than their legal qualifications dam- ages the public's perception of the institutional prestige of the judiciary and calls into question the high ideal of judicial independence."4 Supporters of both Bird and Bork argued that this was the model to be used and that each should be approved because of excellent professional qualifications.5 For example, Professor Bruce Ackerman described the rejec- tion of Robert Bork as a "tragedy" on the grounds that Bork was "among the best qualified candidates for the Supreme Court of this or any other era. Few nominees in our history compare with him in the range of their profes- sional accomplishments."6 A second approach can be termed the judging skills model. Under this approach, in addition to professional qualifications, it is permissible for the evaluator—be it the voter, the Executive, or the Senate—to examine the can- didate's skills as a judge, assuming that the candidate has served in a prior judicial position. Supporters of this approach look to factors such as the judicial candidate's use of precedent, the quality of his or her written opin- ions, his or her temperament on the bench, and the like. As with the profes- sional qualifications approach, the judging skills model expressly excludes consideration of an individual's ideology in evaluating potential judges. For example, Professor Michael Moore argued against the retention of Chief Justice Rose Bird, but expressly disclaimed that his position was based on an ideological disagreement.7 Professor Moore maintained that Chief Justice Bird should have been rejected because he believed that her vote to reverse every death penalty case to come before her reflected closed-minded- ness and impermissibly result-oriented judging.8 Similarly, Professor Judith Resnick in her Senate testimony against Robert Bork focused on his judging skills and not on his ideology.' She specifically criticized the breadth of his 3. AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION, THE ABA'S STANDING COMMITTEE ON FEDERAL JUDICI- ARY: WHAT IT IS AND HOW IT WORKS (1983). 4. TWENTIETH CENTURY FUND, REPORT OF THE TASK FORCE ON JUDICIAL SELECTION, Ju- dicial Roulette (1988) [hereinafter TWENTIETH CENTURY FUND REPORT]. 5. See, e.g., Chemerinsky, The Judicial Conscience of a Conservative, L.A. Herald Examiner, Sept. 24, 1986 at A13, col. 1; Chemennsky, High Court Vote, San Fran. Examiner, Sept. 4, 1986; Cutler, Saving Bork from Both Friends and Enemies, N. Y. Times, July 16, 1987 at A27, col.l. 6. Ackerman, supra note 1, at 1164. 7. See, eg., Moore, Politics is Not the Basis for Judging the Judges, L.A. Times, July 29, 1985, Part II at 5, col. 1; Moore, Justices' Personal Values Must at Times Give Way, L.A. Times, July 30, 1985, Part II at 5, col. 4; Moore, Rose Bird Should Go: On Death Penalty She Has Taken Law Into Her Own Hands, L.A. Times, July 31, 1985, Pan II at 5. col. 3. 8. Moore, Rose Bird Should Go, supra note 7. 9. Transcript of Proceedings, Senate Comm. on the Judiciary, Hearing on the Nomination of Honorable Robert H. Bork to be Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (Sept. 646 646 GEORGETOWN JOURNAL OF LEGAL ETHICS [Vol. 2:643 opinions and his resolution of questions net raised m the specific cases before him.10 A third approach can be termed the ideological orientation model. Although this model certainly includes evaluation of professional qualifica- tions and judging skills, it differs from the irst two approaches because it expressly permits consideration of an individual's ideology in the selection process. Specifically, the evaluator is allowed to examine a judicial candi- date's views on important issues in deciding whether to approve or reject the individual. Many of the critics of both Bird and Bork employed this model. Chief Justice Bird, for example, was opposed for her opposition to capital punishment and also for her liberal rulings protecting consumers and em- ployees.11 Judge Bork was attacked for his writings criticizing Supreme Court cases protecting the right of privacy, applying the equal protection clause to gender discrimination, and using the First Amendment to protect speech not concerned with the political process.12 In short, the debates over Bird and Bork were primarily battles over which of these three models should be followed. The model selected determines the appropriate criteria for evaluation. It must be recognized that, as with any such models, these are only de- scriptions of approaches in very general terms.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Debate on Birthright Citizenship
    Florida International University College of Law eCollections Faculty Publications Faculty Scholarship 2011 Debate on Birthright Citizenship John Eastman Dr. Chapman University Fowler School of Law, [email protected] Ediberto Román Florida International University College of Law, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://ecollections.law.fiu.edu/faculty_publications Part of the Fourteenth Amendment Commons Recommended Citation John Eastman Dr. and Ediberto Román, Debate on Birthright Citizenship , 6 FIU L. Rev. 293 (2011). Available at: https://ecollections.law.fiu.edu/faculty_publications/304 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Faculty Scholarship at eCollections. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Publications by an authorized administrator of eCollections. For more information, please contact [email protected]. +(,121/,1( Citation: 6 FIU L. Rev. 293 2010-2011 Provided by: FIU College of Law Content downloaded/printed from HeinOnline Thu Jun 22 14:05:02 2017 -- Your use of this HeinOnline PDF indicates your acceptance of HeinOnline's Terms and Conditions of the license agreement available at http://heinonline.org/HOL/License -- The search text of this PDF is generated from uncorrected OCR text. Debate on Birthright Citizenship Dr. John Eastman*& Professor Ediberto Roman' Dr. John C. Eastman is the Henry Salvatori Professor of Law & Community Service at Chapman University School of Law, specializing in Constitutional Law and Legal History. He also served as Dean from 2007 to 2010, when he stepped down to pursue a campaign for Califor- nia Attorney General. He is also the founding Director of the Center for Constitutional Juris- prudence, a public interest law firm affiliated with the Claremont Institute for the Study of Statesmanship and Political Philosophy.
    [Show full text]
  • History, Tradition, the Supreme Court, and the First Amendment Erwin Chemerinsky
    Hastings Law Journal Volume 44 | Issue 4 Article 7 1-1993 History, Tradition, the Supreme Court, and the First Amendment Erwin Chemerinsky Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.uchastings.edu/hastings_law_journal Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation Erwin Chemerinsky, History, Tradition, the Supreme Court, and the First Amendment, 44 Hastings L.J. 901 (1993). Available at: https://repository.uchastings.edu/hastings_law_journal/vol44/iss4/7 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Journals at UC Hastings Scholarship Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Hastings Law Journal by an authorized editor of UC Hastings Scholarship Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. History, Tradition, the Supreme Court, and the First Amendment by ERWIN CHEMERINSKY* Introduction My advice to an attorney litigating a case before the current Supreme Court is to buy a copy of Blackstone's history of the common law or at least a good book on legal history. In virtually every area of constitutional law, the Supreme Court increasingly is relying on tradition as its guide in decisionmaking. Repeatedly, the Supreme Court has de- nied constitutional protection by holding that the claimed right was not historically protected. The Court is often explicit in stating that rights should be protected only if there has been a tradition of judicial safe- guards, and its analysis frequently is accompanied by a lengthy exegesis on common-law practices. I believe that this is a perverse and undesirable method of interpret- ing the Constitution. What has been done in the past cannot answer normatively what the law should be in the future.
    [Show full text]
  • OPINION and DENNIS HOLLINGSWORTH; GAIL J
    FOR PUBLICATION UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT KRISTIN M. PERRY; SANDRA B. STIER; PAUL T. KATAMI; JEFFREY J. ZARRILLO, Plaintiffs-Appellees, CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO, Intervenor-Plaintiff-Appellee, v. EDMUND G. BROWN, JR., in his official capacity as Governor of California; KAMALA D. HARRIS, in her official capacity as Attorney General of California; MARK B. HORTON, in his official capacity as Director of the California Department of Public Health & State Registrar of Vital Statistics; LINETTE SCOTT, in her official capacity as Deputy Director of Health Information & Strategic Planning for the California Department of Public Health; PATRICK O’CONNELL, in his official capacity as Clerk-Recorder for the County of Alameda; DEAN C. LOGAN, in his official capacity as Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk for the County of Los Angeles, Defendants, 1569 1570 PERRY v. BROWN HAK-SHING WILLIAM TAM, Intervenor-Defendant, and DENNIS HOLLINGSWORTH; GAIL J. No. 10-16696 KNIGHT; MARTIN F. GUTIERREZ; D.C. No. MARK A. JANSSON; 3:09-cv-02292- PROTECTMARRIAGE.COM-YES ON 8, VRW A PROJECT OF CALIFORNIA RENEWAL, as official proponents of Proposition 8, Intervenor-Defendants-Appellants. KRISTIN M. PERRY; SANDRA B. STIER; PAUL T. KATAMI; JEFFREY J. ZARRILLO, Plaintiffs-Appellees, CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO, Intervenor-Plaintiff-Appellee, v. EDMUND G. BROWN, JR., in his official capacity as Governor of California; KAMALA D. HARRIS, in her official capacity as Attorney General of California; MARK B. HORTON, in his official capacity as Director of the California Department of Public Health & State Registrar of Vital Statistics; PERRY v. BROWN 1571 LINETTE SCOTT, in her official capacity as Deputy Director of Health Information & Strategic Planning for the California Department of Public Health; PATRICK O’CONNELL, in his official capacity as Clerk-Recorder for the County of Alameda; DEAN C.
    [Show full text]
  • Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean, Professor of Law UC Berkeley Law School
    The Bay Area Bankruptcy Forum and our Co-sponsors Present Round-up of Current Supreme Court Cases - Focusing on Those Most Important to Bankruptcy Lawyers and Accountants Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean, Professor of Law UC Berkeley Law School Erwin Chemerinsky became the 13th Dean of Berkeley Law on July 1, 2017, when he joined the faculty as the Jesse H. Choper Distinguished Professor of Law. Prior to assuming this position, from 2008-2017, he was the founding Dean and Distinguished Professor of Law, and Raymond Pryke Professor of First Amendment Law, at University of California, Irvine School of Law, with a joint appointment in Political Science. Before that he was the Alston and Bird Professor of Law and Political Science at Duke University from 2004-2008, and from 1983- 2004 was a professor at the University of Southern California Law School, including as the Sydney M. Irmas Professor of Public Interest Law, Legal Ethics, and Political Science. He also has taught at DePaul College of Law and UCLA Law School. He teaches Constitutional Law, First Amendment Law, Federal Courts, Criminal Procedure, and Appellate Litigation. He is the author of ten books, including The Case Against the Supreme Court, published by Viking in 2014, and two books published by Yale University Press in 2017, Closing the Courthouse Doors: How Your Constitutional Rights Became Unenforceable and Free Speech on Campus (with Howard Gillman). He also is the author of more than 200 law review articles. He writes a weekly column for the Orange County Register, monthly columns for the ABA Journal and the Daily Journal, and frequent op-eds in newspapers across the country.
    [Show full text]
  • The Rehnquist Court and Criminal Procedure Stephen F
    Notre Dame Law School NDLScholarship Journal Articles Publications 2002 The Rehnquist Court and Criminal Procedure Stephen F. Smith Notre Dame Law School, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.nd.edu/law_faculty_scholarship Part of the Constitutional Law Commons, and the Courts Commons Recommended Citation Stephen F. Smith, The Rehnquist Court and Criminal Procedure, 73 U. Colo. L. Rev. 1337 (2002). Available at: https://scholarship.law.nd.edu/law_faculty_scholarship/448 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Publications at NDLScholarship. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal Articles by an authorized administrator of NDLScholarship. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE REHNQUIST COURT AND CRIMINAL PROCEDURE STEPHEN F. SMITH* INTRODUCTION This Conference, like a growing body of academic literature, discusses the phenomenon of conservative judicial activism. Has the Rehnquist Court been "activist"-whatever that means-in its approach to constitutional adjudication? With recent rumors that Chief Justice Rehnquist will soon announce his retirement, this is a particularly topical subject. Indeed, even now, one sees the first chiselings of the Court's epitaph, with Professor Erwin Chemerinsky, for example, declaring that the Rehnquist Court has been nothing short of a "disaster" due to its rampant conservative activism.1 The question of whether, and to what extent, the Rehnquist Court is "activist" or practices the "restraint" that judicial conservatives traditionally preach will likely figure prominently in the ultimate assessment of the Court's jurisprudence. Much of this Conference addresses this question within the context of the revival of federalism-based limits on Congress over the last decade.
    [Show full text]
  • Letter to Supreme Court (Erwin Chemerinsky Is Mad. Why You Should Care) Barry Friedman
    Vanderbilt Law Review Volume 69 | Issue 4 Article 4 5-2016 Letter to Supreme Court (Erwin Chemerinsky is Mad. Why You Should Care) Barry Friedman Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.vanderbilt.edu/vlr Part of the Supreme Court of the United States Commons Recommended Citation Barry Friedman, Letter to Supreme Court (Erwin Chemerinsky is Mad. Why You Should Care), 69 Vanderbilt Law Review 995 (2019) Available at: https://scholarship.law.vanderbilt.edu/vlr/vol69/iss4/4 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarship@Vanderbilt Law. It has been accepted for inclusion in Vanderbilt Law Review by an authorized editor of Scholarship@Vanderbilt Law. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Letter To Supreme Court (Erwin Chemerinsky is Mad. Why You Should Care.) Barry Friedman* I. THE PROBLEM WITH CHEMERINSKY'S "CASE" ..................... 997 II. THE CASE FOR ERWIN CHEMERINSKY ............................... 1001 III. THE CONSERVATIVE CASE AGAINST THE SUPREM E COURT ........................................................ 1002 IV. W HAT THE PEOPLE THINK ................................................. 1004 V . TIM E FOR CHANGE? ........................ ............... ................. .. 1007 VI. BACK TO THE (MERITS) FUTURE ........................................ 1014 Dear Supreme Court: You may be wondering why I'm writing. Let me tell you. I was asked to participate in a symposium about Erwin Chemerinsky's The Case Against the Supreme Court. I'm sure you know Chemerinsky. His book is a stinging condemnation of much that you do. And his goal-in which he does not nearly succeed-is to show your work to be unacceptable to the left and the right alike. He fancies that he is offering a non-partisan, non-ideological, non-denominational challenge to your hegemony.
    [Show full text]
  • UCLA LAW MAGAZINE PRESORTED UCLA School of Law, Office of the Dean FIRST CLASS MAIL Box 951476, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1476 U.S
    Final Cover 3/26/01 10:13 AM Page 1 UCLA LAW MAGAZINE PRESORTED UCLA School of Law, Office of the Dean FIRST CLASS MAIL Box 951476, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1476 U.S. POSTAGE PAID www.law.ucla.edu UCLA [email protected] APRIL 2001 Return Service Requested Friday, April 20, 1 P.M. “The Changing Face of Practice: Perspectives from the Profession and the Law School” A Symposium to mark the 30th Anniversary of the UCLA School of Law Clinical Program with a dinner and tribute to Professor David Binder UCLA LAW MAGAZINE UC L A featuring Shirley M. Hufstedler LAW MAGAZINE The Magazine of the UCLA School of Law MCLE credit approved for 2.5 hours general credit and 1.75 ethics credit Vol. 24 L No. 1 L Fall.Winter.2000.2001 Please call (310) 825-7376 or e-mail [email protected] • Saturday, April 21, 9 A.M.- 6 P.M. AALS Colloquium: Equal Access to Justice Please call (310) 206-9155 or e-mail [email protected] 3030 YearsYears ofof Clinical Clinical LegalLegal EducationEducation • Tuesday, April 24, NOON UCLA Law Alumni of the Year Awards A Salute to The Honorable Elwood Lui [Ret.] ’69 Public/Community Service and N Skip Brittenham ’70 FALL.WINTER.2000–2001 Professional Achievement Century Plaza Hotel Please call (310) 206-1121 or e-mail [email protected] • Tuesday, April 24, 4:30 P.M. The Twelfth Annual Public Interest Awards UCLA School of Law, Room 1430 Please call (310) 206-9155 or e-mail [email protected] MAY 2001 Sunday, May 20, 2 P.M.
    [Show full text]
  • Seeing the Emperor's Clothes: Recognizing The
    SEEING THE EMPEROR’S CLOTHES: RECOGNIZING THE REALITY OF CONSTITUTIONAL DECISION MAKING ∗ ERWIN CHEMERINSKY INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................. 1069 I. WHY DOES THE MYTH PERSIST?....................................................... 1070 II. WHY IS THE MYTH’S PERSISTENCE BAD?......................................... 1077 III. HOW CAN THE DISCOURSE MOVE FORWARD?.................................. 1079 CONCLUSION................................................................................................. 1081 INTRODUCTION Increasingly, the rhetoric about judicial review is at complete odds with reality. In the summer of 2005, President George W. Bush repeatedly said that he wanted to nominate judges who would “not legislate from the bench.”1 He wanted judges who would apply, not make, the law. It is a nice slogan, but any first year law student knows that judges make law constantly. The first year student’s common law subjects are almost entirely judge-made law. Interpretation of an ambiguous statute or a constitutional provision’s broad, open-textured language is also a judge’s legal product. At his confirmation hearings for the Chief Justice position, Judge John Roberts began the proceedings by analogizing his future role to that of a baseball umpire.2 Although both make decisions, it is hard to think of a less apt analogy. An umpire applies rules created by others; the Supreme Court, through its decisions, creates rules that others play by. An umpire’s views should not make a difference in how plays are called; a Supreme Court Justice’s views make an enormous difference. Justices John Paul Stevens and Antonin Scalia frequently disagree in important constitutional cases; everyone knows that it is because their views and ideologies are drastically different. ∗ Alston & Bird Professor of Law and Political Science, Duke University.
    [Show full text]
  • Congress' Constitutional Role in Protecting Religious Liberty
    S. HRG. 105-405 CONGRESS' CONSTITUTIONAL ROLE IN PROTECTING RELIGIOUS LIBERTY HEARING BEFORE THE COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED FIFTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION ON EXAMINING CONGRESS' ROLE IN PROTECTING RELIGIOUS LIBERTY IN THE WAKE OF THE SUPREME COURT'S DECISION IN THE CASE OF CITY OF BOERNE v. FLORES IN WHICH THE COURT HELD THE RELI­ GIOUS FREEDOM RESTORATION ACT UNCONSTITUTIONAL UNDER THE 14TH AMENDMENT AS APPLIED TO THE STATES OCTOBER 1, 1997 Serial No. J-105-55 Printed for the use of the Committee on the Judiciary Legislative Office MAIN LIBRARY U.S. Dept. of Justice U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 47-217 CC WASHINGTON : 1998 For sale by the U.S. Government Printing Office Superintendent of Documents, Congressional Sales Office, Washington, DC 20402 ISBN 0-16-056351-8 COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY ORRIN G. HATCH, Utah, Chairman STROM THURMOND, South Carolina PATRICK J. LEAHY, Vermont CHARLES E. GRASSLEY, Iowa EDWARD M. KENNEDY, Massachusetts ARLEN SPECTER, Pennsylvania JOSEPH R. BIDEN, JR., Delaware FRED THOMPSON, Tennessee HERBERT KOHL, Wisconsin JON KYL, Arizona DIANNE FEINSTEIN, California MIKE DEWINE, Ohio RUSSELL D. FEINGOLD, Wisconsin JOHN ASHCROFT, Missouri RICHARD J. DURBIN, Illinois SPENCER ABRAHAM, Michigan ROBERT G. TORRICELLI, New Jersey JEFF SESSIONS, Alabama MANUS COONEY, Chief Counsel and Staff Director BRUCE COHEN, Minority Chief Counsel (II) CONTENTS STATEMENTS OF COMMITTEE MEMBERS Page Hatch, Hon. Orrin G., U.S. Senator from the State of Utah 1 Kennedy, Hon. Edward M., U.S. Senator from the State of Massachusetts 48 Ashcroft, Hon. John, U.S. Senator from the State of Missouri 51 CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF WITNESSES Panel consisting of Douglas Laycock, Alice McKean Young regents chair in law, University of Texas, Austin, TX; Michael Stokes Paulsen, associate professor of law, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN; Erwin Chemerinsky, Sydney M.
    [Show full text]
  • Judges and Free Speech While Cases Are Pending
    IS IT THE SIREN'S CALL?: JUDGES AND FREE SPEECH WlllLE CASES ARE PENDING Erwin Chemerinsky* "The sirens of mythology pale in comparison to the allure of seeing yourself on CNN. The results, however, can be about the same. "1 Judge Lance Ito, prior to handling the O.J. Simpson case2 I. INTRODUCTION In November 1994, Judge Lance Ito, the presiding judge in the murder trial of O.J. Simpson, granted an exclusive interview to a local Los Angeles television station.3 The interview was with a local news anchor, Tritia Toyota, and was shown in five-minute installments on the 11:00 p.m. news over the course of_ a week. The interview was heavily advertised and attracted enormous public attention. Although the interview focused primarily on Judge Ito and his background, it did occasionally touch on the Simpson case. In the ini­ tial segment of the interview, Judge Ito described his family back­ ground and spoke of how his parents, Japanese-Americans, were * Legion Lex Professor of Law, University of Southern California Law Center. I am very grateful to Cristina Golesorkhi and Julie Hsu for their excellent research assistance. 1. BJ. Palermo, Profile: Lance A Ito, He Helped Pick Simpson Judge, L.A. DAILY J., July 19, 1994, at 1, 5 (quoting Judge Lance A. Ito). Toe full quote consisted of three cau­ tions Judge Ito offered for judges handling high profile cases: "Rule One: Be cautious, be careful, and when in doubt, keep your mouth shut. Rule 'I\vo: When tempted to say something, take a deep breath and refer to Rule One.
    [Show full text]
  • Is It the Siren's Call: Judges and Free Speech While Cases Are Pending
    Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review Volume 28 Number 3 Symposium—The Sound of the Gavel: Article 4 Perspectives on Judicial Speech 4-1-1995 Is it the Siren's Call: Judges and Free Speech while Cases are Pending Erwin Chemerinsky Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/llr Part of the Law Commons Recommended Citation Erwin Chemerinsky, Is it the Siren's Call: Judges and Free Speech while Cases are Pending, 28 Loy. L.A. L. Rev. 831 (1995). Available at: https://digitalcommons.lmu.edu/llr/vol28/iss3/4 This Symposium is brought to you for free and open access by the Law Reviews at Digital Commons @ Loyola Marymount University and Loyola Law School. It has been accepted for inclusion in Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons@Loyola Marymount University and Loyola Law School. For more information, please contact [email protected]. IS IT THE SIREN'S CALL?: JUDGES AND FREE SPEECH WHILE CASES ARE PENDING Erwin Chemerinsky* "The sirens of mythology pale in comparison to the allure of seeing yourself on CNN. The results, however, can be about the same."1 Judge Lance Ito, prior to handling the O.J. Simpson case2 I. INTRODUCTION In November 1994, Judge Lance Ito, the presiding judge in the murder trial of O.J. Simpson, granted an exclusive interview to a local Los Angeles television station.3 The interview was with a local news anchor, Tritia Toyota, and was shown in five-minute installments on the 11:00 p.m. news over the course of a week.
    [Show full text]
  • Re-Evaluating the Privileges of Immunities Clause
    Re-evaluating the Privileges or Immunities Clause John C. Eastman* Four years ago, in Saenz v. Roe,1 the United States Supreme Court relied on the Fourteenth Amendment's Privileges or Immu- nities Clause2 to invalidate a California state law limiting welfare benefits for newly arrived residents to the amount payable in the state of the individual's prior residence. That the Court relied upon the Privileges or Immunities Clause at all was something of a surprise; that clause had been rendered virtually a dead letter- "sapped... of any meaning," as Justice Clarence Thomas put it4- a century and a quarter earlier in the Slaughter-House Cases.' Even more of a surprise was that this revival of a long-dead con- stitutional provision came from the pen of Justice John Paul Ste- vens, widely regarded as one of the more vocal proponents of a "living constitution,"6 rather than Justice Thomas, whose trade- mark on the Court has been to revive the original understanding of long overlooked or misinterpreted clauses of the Constitution.7 * Professor of Law, Chapman University School of Law and Director, The Claremont Institute Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence; J.D., The University of Chicago Law School; Ph.D., M.A., Claremont Graduate School. This article was prepared for Chapman Law Review's Economic Liberties Symposium which took place on February 14, 2003. 1 526 U.S. 489 (1999). 2 U.S. CONST. amend. XIV, § 1. 3 CAL. WELF. & INST. CODE § 11450.03 (West 2001). 4 Saenz, 526 U.S. at 527 (Thomas, J., dissenting). 5 83 U.S.
    [Show full text]