• Judicial nominationsJudicial nominations • Prisoners and organ donation • Greater protection for federal judges • Women in combat • Wine shipments Judicial nominationsJudicial nominations San Francisco Chronicle, May 25, 2005 It is a measure of the current state of
• Judicial nominationsJudicial nominations
• Prisoners and organ donation
• Greater protection for federal judges
• Women in combat
• Wine shipments
Judicial nominationsJudicial nominations
San Francisco Chronicle, May 25, 2005
It is a measure of the current state of dysfunction in Washington that a passing breeze of rationality is hailed as something consequential, let alone statesmanlike.
The fact is, the partisans on the right and left were both losing in the stalemate over judicial nominations. Neither side was winning any friends, but each was successful in portraying the other side as unreasonable: Democrats as obstructionists and Republicans as power-grabbers.
The average voter may not be able to define cloture, but knows the meaning of gridlock. Monday’s compromise won’t make it vanish. It just offered a short reprieve — with a high cost.…
The future of this conflict rests with the White House. If President Bush wants to continue to nominate judges with open contempt for the environment, reproductive freedom or civil rights, then Senate Democrats should not flinch at using extraordinary means to stop them.
Prisoners and organ donation
The Star Press, Muncie, Ind., May 22, 2005
Indiana’s parole board acted correctly in rejecting the bid of a condemned prisoner who wanted to donate all or part of his liver to his ailing sister. While the request had a certain appeal to those who would jump at any chance to save a life, there were ethical and practical reasons for not honoring one of the final wishes of Gregory Scott Johnson.
Johnson had asked the parole board to grant a 90-day reprieve so that some form of organ donation could be made to his sister, Debra Otis, 48, who needs a new liver because she has a non-alcoholic form of cirrhosis.
However, Otis is not yet on a transplant list, and a transplant surgeon said she would likely fare better with a full liver from a cadaver than a liver section from her brother.
Besides the medical considerations, there is a huge ethical issue at stake: It is wrong to take one person’s life to save the life of another. This is reflected in religious thought, societal tradition and certainly in the training of physicians.
The case of Gregory Scott Johnson is exceptional, but future questions could be just as difficult. The challenge for officials is to carefully craft policies addressing the implied moral, ethical, medical and criminal-justice issues.
Women in combat
The Times Herald-Record, Middletown, N.Y., May 22, 2005
For whatever reason, Republicans in the House of Representatives felt moved recently to sharply cut back on the ways in which female soldiers could provide support for combat units.…
The misguided effort lasted barely a week, its sponsors retreating under a barrage of complaints from the Pentagon, which pointed out the proposed restrictions could seriously impede women’s military careers by locking them out of nearly 22,000 positions.…
The reality of Iraq got through to the bill’s sponsors, including Rep. John M. McHugh, R-Watertown. He amended his original measure so that it now spells out the Defense Department’s current policy banning women from combat units and requires a vote from Congress to permit women to serve in direct combat units.…
Democrats on the House Armed Services Committee wanted to ask for a new study of women’s role in the military, which makes more sense than the amended bill. Given the drastically changed face of war, the dramatic contributions being made to the effort by women and Defense Department plans for a smaller, more mobile military units, Congress would perform a valuable public service by revisiting the subject of women in combat.
Greater protection for federal judges
Journal Star, Peoria, Ill., May 21, 2005
Judge Joan Lefkow’s account of life without her husband and mother was enough to move the hardest hearts, even in Congress.…
Judge Lefkow’s powerful Senate testimony Wednesday about the murders of those she loved, by a man whose court claim she’d denied, was intended to persuade Congress to provide more security for federal judges. Specifically, she said the government should pay for home security systems upon request and should beef up the federal marshal’s service.…
… the questions she raises are more easily asked than answered.
Federally funded home security systems? Perhaps, but why then just for federal judges? …
More money for the marshal’s service? A powerful case can be made for that. Like most federal agencies, this one is short of funds, but so is the federal government.…
More civility? Absolutely, and Lefkow’s plea for it deserves to be noted and honored.…
More civility in public life would be welcome, but would it keep judges safe? The evidence is sparse.
Wine shipments
The Herald, Rock Hill, S.C., May 24, 2005
Last week’s decision by the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down some states’ rules against direct shipments of wine from the winery to the customer was cheered as a victory for wine lovers everywhere. …
But the ruling does address the unfairness of giving in-state vintners an advantage over out-of-state competitors. The goal of the majority in this case was, in effect, to level the field. If states are going to allow some direct shipments from winery to customer, everyone must play by the same rules. …
Some critics argue that loosening the restrictions on out-of-state shipments will make it easier for underage buyers to purchase wine. But we doubt that many minors are going to go to the trouble and expense of trying to buy out-of-state wine when they can buy beer with a fake ID at the corner stop-and-shop.
What this ruling will accomplish is to allow many wine lovers to buy directly from small wineries in other states that don’t have big marketing budgets and don’t ship their wine to retailers nation-wide. For that, we raise a toast to the majority on the court.
