Blind Justice and Voter Responsibility
To the Editor:
As the House Judiciary Committee prepares to address judicial reform issues, we need to remember one key issue that has been true since the ancient Greeks first followed their gods: the goddess Justice was blindfolded for a reason. Her decisions were to be based on FACT alone, not empathy, or friendship, or personal opinion or any other potentially emotional reasons. She was blindfolded to ensure impartiality.
Recent events indicate that some of our current Federal judges have forgotten that they are held to that same standard that has held true for thousands of years - impartiality, not personal opinion. It doesn’t matter if they are asked to render verdicts on controversial issues or cut-and-dried events, these judges took an oath to be impartial, no matter what. When a judge demonstrates that he or she is no longer capable of that impartiality, he or she should be summarily removed from office by a higher court, up to and including the US Supreme Court. Anything less shows a dereliction of duty for not only the biased judge but for any higher court that fails to address the issue of impropriety on the offending judge’s part.
Party affiliation has no part in this issue. Personal opinion also has no part in this issue. Every judge in the United States of America took an oath to set aside those personal issues and look objectively at the facts of each case as they are presented. That makes being a judge one of the hardest jobs ever created because those requirements for impartiality go against human nature. So when a judge overlooks that oath of impartiality and introduces the frailties of human nature, he or she has done more than just break a sacred oath. That judge has also broken the trust of the people he or she serves.
That’s right – SERVES! Just like every elected official in this country, judges are also put in place to serve us in a fair, just and impartial manner. Once they have broken that trust, they are no longer capable of rendering fair, just and impartial rulings because those attributes are based solely on trust. For that reason, off-year elections are just as important as Presidential-year elections.
As voters, we each have a moral obligation to know the people on the ballot, maybe not personally, but more importantly, where they stand on issues that are important to us individually. In my opinion, every person whose name appears on a ballot talks a good talk. But what are their personal values? Do they align with yours? Do they have experience in public service, particularly as it relates to the position they are seeking? And probably most importantly, after doing your due diligence, do they seem trustworthy to you?
We have just finished a very tumultuous election year. Some of us like the results and some don’t. That’s in the past. What’s important is to look to the future because there is another election year on the horizon. As voters, our responsibility is to know more about the candidates on the ballot than just what the campaign literature and stump speeches tell us. So start studying, folks. Make sure that the people you select on next year’s ballots align with your personal core values. It’s the best way to make sure that the people we choose are public servants we can continue to be proud of throughout their tenures in office.
Mary Kendall Dawson La Grange