In the Beginning

   Jonathan Turley part 2

     Surprise. "In our beginning, there were few professional standards governing the American court system. Our 'experiment' began with courts openly biased. Judges and justices routinely ran for political office and openly engaged in political commentary from the bench. This would change with the first law schools: William & Mary in 1779. The first independent law school, Litchfield, Connecticut, in 1784. Quickly, the partisanship in the courts came to be absent of political associations. 

     "Today, what the Right and the Left call partisanship is actually deep and good faith jurisprudential differences on both ends of the Court. This was also the case when the Court had a liberal majority. During the years of the Warren Court in the 1950s and 60s, when conservative precedents were overturned in large numbers and conservatives were often outraged, there were virtually no calls to pack or eliminate the Court. The attack on the Court is disconnected from its voting record. 

     "Some 44 percent of cases are decided unanimously. Including 8-1 and 7-2 margins, that figure jumps to over 60 percent. Liberal justices refuted claims that the Court is a partisan institution. Justice Kagan rejected claims that the conservative majority is in President Trump's corner. The enthusiasm for packing or eliminating the Supreme Court is based less on voting records and views of the justices...than on Senator Warren's 'widely held public opinion.' 

     "On both ends, judicial restraints can be frustrating, even infuriating. And sometimes the Court can get things wrong. Consider the attacks on free speech that came to a head during the Biden administration. Government, academia and corporations created the largest censorship system in our history. There was an aggressive campaign between 2020 and 2024 to curtail free speech on the Internet and elsewhere, labeling it 'disinformation,' 'misinformation,' 'Malin formation,' or 'hate speech.' Those standing for free speech were dismissed as members of a 'cult of the Constitution.'" 

Tomorrow: Cancel the Court, lose your freedom and security