The Ohio Supreme Court on November 26 ruled along party lines (4-3) to uphold the gerrymandered redistricting plan written by the Republican legislature.
This reminds one of the Republican justices on the U.S. Supreme Court in a 5-4 decision choosing
George W. Bush as the winner of the 2000 presidential election. In that case the five Republican justices ignored the States Rights issue which they had claimed to support in their testimony before Congress. That decision will go down in history as the most politically-motivated decision of the US Supreme Court. As a result, we will never again believe in the myth of an apolitical Supreme Court.
Now the Ohio Supreme Court has re-demonstrated the political bias of justices.
Perhaps it's time we stop the charade and require justices to declare their political affiliation when they run for office. Their political philosophy is the best predictor of their behavior on the bench. Presumably, most voters already know a judicial candidates political preference, but for those who don't and in the interest of openness, require them to reveal their politic
(Unfortunately, according to a recent study, Ohio voters know so little about Supreme Court candidates that they vote based on name recognition even if the candidate they vote for is not the person whose name they recognize.)
No comments:
Post a Comment