Justice Bolick: The Assault on the Independent Judiciary
Clint Bolick is a justice on the Arizona Supreme Court and a research fellow at the Hoover Institution. This article originally appeared on Real Clear Politics.
Associate Justice Bolick offered the following observations:
[C]ourts are independent institutions that provide a level playing field, for the most part free from political influences. In turn, that distinguishes our system from authoritarian regimes like China, whose courts are extensions of the ruling party. That crucial difference means that in America, constitutional rights are more than mere paper promises …
Until November 2024, most conservatives supported a robust independent judiciary. When Barack Obama issued his DACA executive order and when Joe Biden issued his order canceling student loan debt, conservatives went to court arguing (successfully) that both presidents exceeded their constitutional authority. So too did they challenge sweeping emergency orders issued by the president and governors during the COVID-19 epidemic. Our principles should not shift based on who occupies the White House.
Going forward, the rules we set today will be the rules that apply tomorrow. A future liberal president, unbound by judicially enforced constitutional limits, might decide to constrain rights that conservatives cherish, such as property, guns, and religion.