Supreme Court: ‘Strong on Law’

I have been reading with interest various articles regarding California Supreme Court and the justices on it. This has been recently brought to a head by the governor’s attempt to have the majority of the court voted out of office so that he may appoint his successors.

Although it never could be said that our appointments were apolitical, this extreme politicizing of the California Supreme Court must be deplored. The blame cannot be laid solely at the feet of Deukmejian. Unfortunately, Gov. Jerry Brown started this process--this politicalization of the Supreme Court--when he focused on appointing judges based solely upon their appeal to special interest groups rather than their mental competence. Their ability as lawyers and judges, and their compassion with respect to people was secondary. Unfortunately, this approach severely restricted the process of selecting judges. No one would pick surgeons to operate based upon their representing minorities or special interest groups, but that is exactly what Jerry Brown did with judges.

It is equally deplorable to try to have a judge removed from office based upon honest decisions based on legal precedents. I note that the police chiefs and the prosecuting attorneys are entering into the political arena insofar as the removal of the judges of the Supreme Court. This can only be indicative of the continuing perversion of how the voters of this state are asked to view the judges.

The voters of this state should expect competent lawyers to become judges, and reject the views of those who would base the selection of judges on their political attributes. We should also reject the views of those who would have judges selected on the basis that these judges will reach a predetermined result in their opinions.

Heaven help this country if the people turn over to the police officers and prosecuting attorneys the power and the authority to select our judges.

JAMES R. CHRISTIANSEN

Santa Barbara