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Saturday, February 11, 2017

Our Overly Sanctified Judiciary

As you might have heard, Donald Trump tweeted at a judge.

The commentariat shuddered at the effrontery of it, and some worried that the foundations of the separation of powers had been shaken. Trump’s slam of Judge James Robart was undeniably crude and ill-considered, but it wasn’t a threat to our Republic.

In fact, it is a symptom of our distorted and overly sanctified view of the judiciary that a criticism of a judge with a lifetime appointment is greeted with such pearl-clutching. It is entirely appropriate that the political branches have their own view of the law and the Constitution and robustly contest — and even deny the legitimacy of — court decisions that they consider erroneous.

The fundamental point is that it is not just the executive or Congress that can abuse its power and overstep its bounds. The courts can, too, and no one is obligated to meekly accept their decisions.

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