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Heritage
Foundation
Morning
Bell: The Next President
and the Supreme Court
By Ed Meese
November 5, 2012
Every
vote counts. And this year,
it could count double. One vote could decide both the immediate
election and
the course of constitutional law for decades to come.
Just
ask the senior federal
officials responsible for our security immediately after 9/11 who were
sued
years later by Javaid Iqbal. During the investigation into the attacks,
FBI
officials identified Iqbal as a suspect of high interest and detained
him in
New York. He sued alleging that high government officials, including
Attorney
General John Ashcroft, personally ordered that he be discriminated
against on
the basis of religion, race, or national origin.
Iqbal
provided no facts in support
of his conspiracy theory. When his case finally reached the Supreme
Court, five
justices properly, but narrowly, rejected his speculative claims that
would
have cleared the way for plaintiffs’ lawyers to embark on fishing
expeditions
in hopes of winning windfall damages from current and former federal
officials.
Only a single vote in the high court kept Iqbal and countless others
with no
proof of any wrongdoing outside their own imagination from subjecting
government officials to depositions and other harassing litigation
tactics.
Though the chance of hitting a punitive-damages jackpot is small, the
prospect
of such an award would have ensured a steady flow of rapacious court
challenges.
Americans
naturally consider many
issues in casting their vote for President. But they should remember
how
important their votes will be in deciding the nation’s constitutional
course.
Neither presidential candidate has made his criteria for judicial
nominations
much of an issue during this campaign, but whom we select as President
may well
determine the viability of the rule of law for the foreseeable future.
The
right approach was best
articulated by Ronald Reagan. As he said on the day that Chief Justice
William
Rehnquist and Justice Antonin Scalia were sworn in…
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the rest of this article at
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