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Politics : THE STARR REPORT -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Joseph Ziebarth who wrote (1105)	9/17/1998 3:13:00 PM
From: Michael Sphar	Respond to of 1533

The independent counsel duties are investigative and prosecutorial in nature hence the oversight by the Judiciary. The OIC is clearly an adjunct to the Executive Branch, it serves at the pleasure of the Attorney General who directly reports to the President but derives its degree of independence from this relationship with the Judiciary. The Judicial Branch is fully equal to both Legislative and Executive Branches and serves as the final arbiter of power abuses by and between either or both these other branches. The Chief Justice will sit as Judge in any impeachment trial by Congress of the President. This is not so much political power but a proper balance of power.

To: Joseph Ziebarth who wrote (1105)	9/17/1998 4:37:00 PM
From: The Philosopher	Respond to of 1533

Never in my lifetime has the judicial branch activily sought so much political power. I would guess, then, that you're pretty young. You only have to go back to the Civil Rights movement to see numerous naked political power plays by federal judges, including the Supreme Court, riding roughshod over elected officials, invoking extremely dubious legal arguments (Brown v. Board of Education was almost entirely based on sociology, not on law; the legal precedents were clearly against the decision), etc. (To forestall any misunderstanding, I was active in the CR movement in the 50s and 60s, member of SNCC, CORE, etc., arrested for sitting in and all that s*&%, not boasting here, just so you realize I was on the good side, but still I can recognize dubious legal arguments even when I like the results.) Then there's Roe v. Wade, clearly a political issue (read the opinion to see just how much it was political and how tenuous was the link to Constitutional law -- emanations of penumbra, for God's sake). Ever since the Slaughterhouse cases the courts have become increasingly politicized, on both sides of the political spectrum. But keep in mind, they are supposed to be a co-equal branch of government, not a minor adjunct to our government.