I was in a doctor's office today, and they had Fox News blaring, reporting on the Sonia Sotomayor nomination. Yes, it is slanted to the right. We all know that. I don't particularly care about that- my bone to pick here is about the confusion between law and policy.
Sotomayor said, to law students (from a clip being shown) that the Court of Appeals is where policy is made. She then followed up that statement saying she knows she shouldn't say that, and that judges are not legislators. The commentators then kept harping on the judicial role, so on and so forth.
The thing is, the CoA is where policy happens. They generally decide cases based on what the will of the people would be. But it is different from law- law comes from the legislator, and policy comes from the interpritation of that law. They are without a doubt connected, but they are not the same.
Point being, this one needs to be let go. One Justice out of nine cannot create policy on the Court, and the Court is far too scrutinized to go rouge and legislate- it is outside of their Constitutional bounds.
Per usual, thanks for reading.
Dis
I think the right is so desperate for material that they'll jump on almost anything.
ReplyDeleteWhy are you separating law and interpretation of the law? An interpretation of the law IS the law, not a policy objective.
ReplyDeleteWhat about the COMMON law?
ReplyDelete