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Sept. 5, 2008

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: What does 'doing the right thing' entail?

Caroline B. Glick: The master strategist

Sept. 4, 2008

Ron Kampeas: Biden, Palin take lead in clash on Mideast issues

Bruce Dancis: With humor as their weapon, the Three Stooges took on Hitler

Sept. 3, 2008

Rabbi S. Binyomin Ginsberg: Productive school years don't just happen

The Kosher Gourmet by Linda Gassenheimer: Quick lamb stew serves up flavors of India

Sept. 2, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Costly Advice

Caroline B. Glick: Calling Israel's bluff

JWisdom: Wandering in Wonder by Rabbi Mordechai Becher

August 29, 2008

Rabbi Berel Wein: 20/20 sightlessness

Caroline B. Glick: When history is not repeated

JWisdom: Blessed or Cursed: It's Really Up to You by Rabbi Sroy Levitansky

August 28, 2008

Steve Lipman: A Comeback for the 'Jewish Jordan'

Jeffrey Weiss: Researcher reports 'intriguing' diabetes breakthrough

August 27, 2008

Rabbi Zecharya Greenwald: Removing the perfectionist's mask

The Kosher Gourmet by Emily Nunn: Summer harvest linguine

JWisdom:: The Missing Link in Spiritual Life by Rabbi David Aaron

August 26, 2008

Yaffa Ganz: Grandma gets lessons in staying cool

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: The Dems' 'soft' jihadist

JWisdom:: Today: Holocaust in the Perspective of Faith by Rabbi Nosson Scherman: Plague of indifference

August 25, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Q: A friend is bearing a silly grudge from a supposed wrong. What recourse do I have?

Daniel Pipes: Barack Obama through Muslim Eyes

JWisdom:: The knowledge you need to overcome your insecurities by Malka Schulman

August 22, 2008

Rabbi Berel Wein: Life's essential ingredient

Caroline B. Glick: Dominos anyone?

JWisdom:: Actually, Do Sweat the Small Stuff! by Rabbi Sroy Levitansky

August 21, 2008

Today in Biblical History by Rabbi Yonason Goldson: Popularization of Kabbalah: 20 Menachem-Av 1558 CE

Jonathan Rosenblum: Lessons from the Beyond

JWisdom: : The Olympian within is rooting for you -- yes, you! –- to go for the gold

August 20, 2008

Jonathan Tobin: Misleading Platform Platitudes

The Kosher Gourmet by Linda Gassenheimer: Chicken Salad with Asian Dressing

JWisdom: The Holocaust in the Perspective of Faith: America's Defense of the Jews --- Until WWII by Rabbi Nosson Scherman

August 19, 2008

Dennis Prager: If the Almighty doesn't exist

Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.: Obama's Islamist problem has nothing to do with his upbringing

JWisdom: Think your life is messed up? by Rabbi David Aaron

August 18, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Business with Friends

Diana West: Roars About Russia, Bare Whispers About Islam

JWisdom: Relationship agony: The real cause by Malka Schulman

August 15, 2008

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: To love the Divine

Caroline B. Glick: Georgia, Israel, and the nature of man

JWisdom: The Truly Righteous Don't Demand Entitlements by Rabbi Sroy Levitansky

August 14, 2008

Rabbi Yonason Goldson: Confessions of broken spirit

Libby Lazewnik: The Numbers Game

JWisdom: Six Questions You'll Be Asked in Heaven? - Uh - Let's Just Take One for Now! by Gavriel Aryeh Sanders

August 13, 2008

Jonathan Tobin: Georgia should be on their minds

The Kosher Gourmet by Linda Gassenheimer: Go Greek: Pair flavorful lamb kebabs with a hearty salad

JWisdom: Human hybrids aren't science fiction by Rabbi David Aaron

August 12, 2008

Rabbi Avi Shafran: Bless us

Daniel Pipes: The West's Islamist Infiltrators

JWisdom: From Sadness to Gladness: The Route from Tisha b'Av to Rosh Hashana by Rabbi Mordechai Becher

August 11, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: A Jewish view on fair pricing

Caroline B. Glick: Ignoring failure in Gaza

JWisdom: 'Communication' Is Not The Answer! by Malka Schulman

August 7, 2008

Rabbi David Gutterman: A Continuing Story With a Sustaining Goal

Rabbi Berel Wein: Mourning and morning

JWisdom: Yes, we are still in exile by Rabbi Sroy Levitansky

August 6, 2008

David Ashenfelter: Government made military engineer's life a living hell because of his faith, Defense Department report documents

Jonathan Tobin: Speak the Truth; Defeat the Lies

JWisdom: Jewish Spirituality: Fusion or Confusion? by Rabbi David Aaron

August 5, 2008

Chris Leppek: Church/state wall beginning to crumble?

Paul Greenberg: Exit Olmert (no encore, please)

JWisdom: Serenity: Make the commitment by Rabbi Zelig Pliskin (Read by Gavriel Sanders)

August 4, 2008

The Jewish Ethicist by Rabbi Dr. Asher Meir: Am I taking advantage of another's psychological quirk?

Andrew Silow-Carroll: A black and a Jew walk into the White House…

JWisdom: The Holocaust in the Perspective of Faith: Edward R. Morrow visits the ‘living dead’ by Rabbi Nosson Scherman

March 22, 2007

J-Rhythms with Avraham Rosenblum: JWR's cutting-edge music program showcasing performers -- singers, song writers, musicians, and bands -- who learn and live the Torah lifestyle (OUR NEWEST IGODCAST !)

Oct. 29, 2003
Mortimer B. Zuckerman: Graffiti On History's Walls (MUST-READ!)

Jewish World Review August 28, 2006 / 4 Elul, 5766

Politics over justice

By Jonathan Gurwitz


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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | It's the summer of 2006. But U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor may have already served up a keystone issue of the 2008 presidential election.


For three decades, liberals have warned about the consequences for the judiciary should Republicans win the White House.


"If GOP candidate X is successful," this trope goes, "a woman's right to choose will be irretrievably endangered."


The underlying threat in this Democratic scare tactic is that Republican judges will make abortion illegal.


Never mind that judges can't make abortion illegal. In the most extreme instance, the Supreme Court might overturn Roe vs. Wade — taking the abortion debate out of the federal courtroom and putting it back into the political process.


Yet somehow, the "right to choose" has survived the appointment of judges by Presidents Ford, Reagan, Bush and Bush II. Roe vs. Wade is still, without question, the law of the land. And even the two latest appointments to the high court — Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice Samuel Alito — have testified that it is "settled as precedent."


There's a real question, however, whether the nation can survive the appointment of more judges like Taylor.


"Three years after she campaigned for Jimmy Carter's presidential bid," the Detroit Free Press notes in a recent glowing profile, "Carter rewarded Taylor with a lifetime appointment to U.S. District Court in Detroit."


The odds are good that the appellate process will overturn Taylor's ruling last week that the Bush administration's program to eavesdrop on communications between individuals in the United States and suspected foreign terrorists is unconstitutional. And for the moment, it will have no practical effect. Enforcement of Taylor's decision will remain in suspense until, at the earliest, a Sept. 7 hearing on whether to grant the government's request for a stay.


But that shouldn't obscure the frightening aspects of her 44-page ruling.


There is her extension of constitutional rights to terror suspects in other countries. There is her abdication of a judicial tradition giving the chief executive wide latitude in defending the nation during time of conflict.


There is her assertion, as a matter of fact, that the most controversial issues of the case are self-evidently settled. With scant evidence, she claims President Bush has "undisputedly violated the Fourth (Amendment) in failing to produce judicial orders as required by FISA. And accordingly has violated the First Amendment rights of the plaintiffs as well."


Bobby Chesney, an associate professor at Wake Forest University School of Law and the editor of the American Bar Association Standing Committee on Law and National Security's National Security Law Report, told the Washington Post, "Regardless of what your position is on the merits of the issue, there's no question that it's a poorly reasoned decision."


The most disturbing part of Taylor's broadside is her blatant employment of partisanship in place of legal reasoning. "There are no hereditary kings in America," she writes, echoing a staple of left-wing, anti-Bush propaganda.


And, most tellingly, she condemns the "War on Terror of this administration." No, your honor. It is the war on terror of this country and the civilized world, thrust upon us by homicidal extremists for whom the finer points of Western legal theory and individual rights are as meaningless as the lives they routinely snuff out.


The tragedy here is that there is a real constitutional issue to sort out. How will Americans reconcile their cherished civil liberties with the threat of modern terrorism? And specifically in this case, what limits can be imposed on executive branch intelligence-gathering — as opposed to law-enforcement — activities once Congress grants the president the authority to use military force?


Taylor might have made a valuable contribution to this ongoing legal debate. Instead, she put partisan interest above national interest to render a decision that reveals the dangers of allowing more judges like her to reach the federal bench.

Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.

JWR contributor Jonathan Gurwitz, a columnist for the San Antonio Express-News, is a co-founder and twice served as Director General of the Future Leaders of the Alliance program at NATO Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium. In 1986 he was placed on the Foreign Service Register of the U.S. State Department.Comment by clicking here.

Jonathan Gurwitz Archives


© 2005, Jonathan Gurwitz

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