Welcome to my archives. This is a long list of most of the commentaries and longer articles I have written since 1989; the hundreds of articles I wrote for the New York Times from 1980-1988 can be found via the SELECTED MEDIA OUTLETS box. They are sorted by date, with the most recent posts first. If you want to find something specific, I would encourage you to use the search feature in the sidebar. It is powered by Google. It is fast and accurate.
Opening Argument – How John Roberts Might Change The Law
by Stuart Taylor, Jr.
The more-provocative labels hurled at John Roberts by the dozens of liberal groups opposing his nomination seem unlikely to stick, especially once the nation gets to know him through his televised confirmation testimony after Labor Day.
Opening Argument – Why Roberts Shouldn’t Tell Us What He Thinks
by Stuart Taylor, Jr.
Do you believe that either the United States Congress or the states can regulate the sexual behavior of individuals within the privacy of their home?
Cover Story – What Kind of Justice?
by Stuart Taylor, Jr.
Judge John G. Roberts Jr. will "strictly apply the Constitution and laws, not legislate from the bench," President Bush said Tuesday night in announcing his Supreme Court nominee. "Strict constructionist" was on the lips of many Bush-Roberts supporters confident that Roberts is no "judicial activist."
Opening Argument – Five Reasons Not to Put Gonzales On the Court
by Stuart Taylor, Jr.
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is a likable fellow and a competent lawyer. He rose from humble Mexican-American origins to join the U.S. Air Force and graduate from Harvard Law School. He has won the trust and friendship of George W. Bush. He wrote 20-some forgettable judicial opinions while on the Texas Supreme Court. And since 2001, he has sat in sphinx-like silence through many high-level meetings on the biggest legal issues facing the nation.
Queen of the Center
by Evan Thomas and Stuart Taylor, Jr.
For an old ranching girl, you turned out pretty good," President George W. Bush told Sandra Day O’Connor when she spoke to the White House last week to say that she was retiring from the Supreme Court. The image of O’Connor as cowgirl is a powerful one, and she has done as much as anyone to foster it. In her chambers, decorated with Western rugs and paintings and artifacts, she served her clerks homemade Tex-Mex lunches on Saturdays. With her fixed and level gaze, her dry, flat voice cutting l
For an old ranching girl, you turned out pretty good," President George W. Bush told Sandra Day O’Connor when she spoke to the White House last week to say that she was retiring from the Supreme Court. The image of O’Connor as cowgirl is a powerful one, and she has done as much as anyone to foster it. In her chambers, decorated with Western rugs and paintings and artifacts, she served her clerks homemade Tex-Mex lunches on Saturdays. With her fixed and level gaze, her dry, flat voice cutting like the prairie wind, she came across to nervous Supreme Court petitioners like an Annie Oakley of the Bench, a fast draw with sharp questions and a don’t-mess-with-me manner. Her most memorable writing was not the language of her judicial opinions but her memoir of growing up on a ranch, the Lazy B. In her retirement, she will work on a children’s book about her childhood horse, Chico.
Special Report – Supreme Court Poker
by Stuart Taylor, Jr.
The president’s favorite judge had scornfully denounced as "illegitimate" dozens of the "most significant constitutional decisions of the past three decades," as well as others going back to the 1920s. He had excoriated "the modern, activist, liberal Supreme Court" for rulings that recognized rights to abortion, contraception, and other aspects of the "right to privacy"; struck down governmental discrimination against women; outlawed official endorsement of religious symbols; required "one person, one vote"; banned poll taxes; and protected sexually explicit speech.
Opening Argument – How O’Connor And the Court Have Drifted Leftward
by Stuart Taylor, Jr.
On June 27, as the Supreme Court ended its term amid rampant speculation about 80-year-old Chief Justice William Rehnquist’s future, his 75-year-old colleague Sandra Day O’Connor was continuing to inch away from her "conservative" past.
Opening Argument – Life Tenure Is Too Long For Supreme Court Justices
by Stuart Taylor, Jr.
"The Judges, both of the supreme and inferior Courts, shall hold their Offices during good Behaviour…." – U.S. Constitution, Article III, Section 1
That seemed a good idea at the time. The Framers wanted to make the Supreme Court and lower federal courts independent of the political branches and insulate them from popular passions. What better way than to give them life tenure?
James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and company had little occasion to ponder the possibility that one day most justices would serve longer than your average medieval monarch. The 10 who have retired since 1970 have averaged 25 years on the Court. And if 80-year-old Chief Justice William Rehnquist steps down soon, he will pull the average post-1982 retirement age down a bit.
By contrast, the first 10 justices served an average of under eight years, in part because of the rigors of the "riding circuit" that covered hundreds of miles on horseback. Three left to take other positions. Only two lived to age 70. The 90 justices who had completed their terms by 1970 retired (on average) after 15 years on the bench, at age 68.
Thus have modern medicine — and modern justices’ fondness for their power and glory — transformed the meaning of life tenure. This longevity has contributed to some serious problems, according to an ideologically diverse group of 45 leading legal scholars, several of whom are publishing law review articles on the subject. Earlier this year, these scholars agreed "in principle" on a proposal that seems especially timely now: staggered, 18-year term limits for all future justices, to marry judicial independence with more frequent and regular injections of new blood by the president and the Senate.
The problems associated with life tenure are subtle but serious:
Opening Argument – Liberal Drug Warriors! Conservative Pot-Coddlers!
by Stuart Taylor, Jr.
The Supreme Court’s four more-liberal members voted to allow federal prosecution of medical-marijuana users — including cancer patients who grow small quantities at home to alleviate agonizing pain — even in the 11 states that have legalized medical marijuana. So did centrist Justice Anthony Kennedy and conservative Justice Antonin Scalia.
Opening Argument – The Moderates Take Charge!
by Stuart Taylor, Jr.
OK, OK, maybe I’m getting a bit carried away. My dream of a Militant Moderate Caucus (even a third party!) shoving the hard-right Republican and hard-left Democratic leaders to the margins, fixing Social Security and health care, and listening to mainstream voters instead of special-interest screamers remains forlorn. But the bipartisan, May 23 deal among 14 mostly moderate senators to bring some sanity to the judicial confirmation process has promise.