By Lynne Stevens
Guest Columnist
Exactly what do we in Graham County care about judges given lifetime jobs on the Federal and Supreme Court?
It is worth looking at how the decisions these judges make influence our lives for decades.
Some examples:
* Dark money political donations are made by unknown donors, possibly foreign donors to influence politicians. Legal pathways for dark money to exist is the result of lifelong-appointed judges.
* The owner of a corporation who has personal religious beliefs – prohibiting birth control – is now able to refuse to pay for birth control for employees who do not share the corporate owners religious beliefs in a controversial Supreme Court ruling.
* Neil Gorsuch wrote a Supreme Court opinion which trashed the right of employees to ban together to sue a corporation for violations of Federal Fair Labor Laws. This forces each employee to file suit separately – rather than a class action, which had previously been workers only access to justice. Anti-worker, pure and simple.
* Justice Roberts brought you the concept that a corporation is a person. This has enabled the consolidation of corporate power for those who must deal with corporations. Many issues with auto warranties and health care policies end up in court. Corporate fine print often wins the day.
* A party line vote by the Supreme Court said that taxpayers must support religious schools in the same manner they support private schools with vouchers. This ruling has very detrimental consequences to public school systems, which desperately need those diverted taxes to improve and run our public schools.
* Obamacare – with all its flaws – is the law of the land and mandates non-discriminatory coverage for pre-existing medical conditions. Twenty-eight million Americans rely on the coverage. The Supreme Court will decide its fate soon.
During the John Roberts Court, nearly 70 percent of decisions favored corporations, the highest percentage ever.
In the past three years, the Senate – who has full authority to approve federal judges – have voted mostly along party lines excluding Democratic input.
Since the 1950s, the American Bar Association has evaluated federal judge nominees. In the first 11 months of the new administration, 53 out of 58 nominations were ranked unqualified. The American Bar Association looks at:
* Integrity
* Professional Competence
* Judicial Temperament.
Those on the American Bar Association’s Nomination Evaluation Committee consider maintaining integrity and public trust in the Judicial System to be their primary mandate.
The following partial list of judges voted in by the Senate along strict party lines were deemed unqualified:
* Judge Leonard Grosz, American Bar Association unanimous unqualified ranking
* Judge Kyle Duncan, American Bar Association unqualified, supported the voter suppression laws that the North Carolina Court of Appeals struck down
* Judge Amy Barrett, American Bar Association unqualified for very extremest views.
Enter the Federalist Society. Exit the American Bar Association. The current administration accused the American Bar Association of being too democratic when ranking judges.
The Elite Federalist members are mostly Conservative and Libertarian members with very conservative world views. The more Liberal Supreme Court Justices have a more humanistic Democratic view.
Do extremist views on the court help or hurt the country?
Given the power that judges hold over our lives, is it important to Americans that judges be competent, impartial and professionally respected?
This is a question only voters can answer.
Lynne Stevens is a resident of Stecoah.