Legal Commentary

The Legal System

By Big Tent Democrat

I wonder how prevalent this view, expressed by Matt Yglesias, is:

With President Barack Obama seeking to move an ambitious legislative agenda through the molasses-like United States Senate,* it was fairly easy for Mitch McConnell and his colleagues to obstruct a given person’s nomination simply by threatening to drag things out. After all, Harry Reid and the White House had better things to do with their pressure floor time than quibble about district court nominees.

(Emphasis supplied.) Lawyers almost certainly overestimate the importance of the judiciary in our political system, but it seems to me non-lawyers underestimate its importance. Justice AND policy are often decided at the district court level, and of course, a lot of individual justice is served, or not, at that level. It's a lot more important than folks like Yglesias think.

Speaking for me only

Full post as published by TalkLeft on November 16, 2010 (boomark / email).