The Left’s War on the Rule of Law - WSJ

The left’s latest offensive has been to undermine the Supreme Court’s credibility by charging Republican-appointed justices with alleged disclosure failures while ignoring similar omissions by Democrat-appointed justices. The Senate Judiciary Committee summoned Chief Justice John Roberts, who wisely declined to appear. The committee then proposed the creation of a formal Supreme Court “ethics code”—a thinly veiled attempt to grant Congress power to police the justices.

Amid these attacks, liberal elites have kept up a steady stream of accusations of partisanship and bias against any judge who issues a decision out of step with progressive values. Baseless accusations of ethics violations usually follow. As the adage says, “a lie repeated often enough will eventually be believed.”

These attacks on the judiciary share the goal of restructuring the courts and delegitimizing the rule of law. They might be working. Recent polling shows public approval of the Supreme Court at historic lows. More than 90% of judges now believe judicial independence is threatened, primarily by the attacks and the left’s politicization of the judiciary. And more offensives against the courts are coming. A coalition of progressive groups will soon launch a nationwide campaign calling again for structural changes to the Supreme Court.

The left hasn’t always had such disregard for the integrity of the courts. In 2001, the American Civil Liberties Union said that maintaining the credibility of the Supreme Court was “critical” to “preserving civil liberties.” Failure to maintain judicial credibility, it said, would damage not only the high court but “the rule of law.” The ACLU was right.

If politically motivated schemes to transform the courts are successful, the judiciary will become little more than a political tool of the executive and legislative branches. Judges will lose their ability to enforce the rule of law with impartiality, and the last safeguard to our civil liberties will be gone.

The left’s grand scheme to delegitimize the courts is more than a threat to the judiciary. It is a threat to our constitutional republic. It must not succeed.

via www.wsj.com

Ed Meese and Kelly Shackelford.