God save this honorable court: How the Choice of Supreme Court Justices Shapes Our History is acclaimed book, written by Laurence Henry Tribe, a Harvard law school professor of constitutional law and US Supreme Court barrister who has been associated with the field of law for a long time. Laurence Tribe is an eminent scholar of constitutional law who has authored luminous books on the subject and has been appeared a number of times before the Supreme Court in renowned cases. One thing which is observable in his writings is that he does not write as scholar but he writes as a lawyer and probably this is the reason why some people blame that intellectual integrity seems to lack in his books. This paper discusses the book, ‘God save this honorable court: How the Choice of Supreme Court Justices Shapes Our History’ and several related aspects.
Lawrence Tribe through his book awakens the lawyers, non lawyers, other intellectuals and readers from the society to think seriously and evaluate the selection process of Supreme Court judges of United States. Supreme court has a very important place in democratic setup of the united states of America and author in his book has focused on the supreme court and the selection process of the judges of the US supreme court. The author seems to have a thorough research on the issue as he comes up with a bunch of new ideas as what should be done to improve the situation. Author arguments reflect his experience of Supreme Court advocacy as he presents several arguments to prove his contention. He suggests senators to seriously think over this issue and take some steps towards the issue as he think that the trend of selecting Supreme Court judges should be immediately changed. Author suggests that judges of the Supreme Court should not be like rubber stamps in any case. Lawrence tribe says that the principles of US constitution should not be overlooked In the process of selecting the Supreme Court judges. He also suggests that constitution is the guiding power of the land and the Supreme Court is compelled to follow the principles of the constitution.
Lawrence tribe assigns the responsibility of selection process to the senate and senators. He suggests that the senate should thoroughly examine the competency of a nominee for the post of Supreme Court judge. His analytical approach, views, legal aptitude and philosophy to make decisions should be thoroughly examined before selecting a nominee as Supreme Court judge. He suggests that by such a comprehensive inquiry the nominee can be completely analyzed whether he deserves to hold the chair of a Supreme Court judge or not. Author says that such process would enhance the outer periphery and acceptability of Supreme Court. There should be broad consensus on this issue and voting on this process should not be conducted as if it happens in case of republican versus democrats or liberal versus conservatives but the issue should be looked into a bigger scenario. The issue has an utmost importance for the nation and should be considered accordingly.
Tribe’s faith in senate and senators is surprising. He suggests each senator individually to think intensively before selecting a judge of the Supreme Court and further advices them to think before selecting a judge that how his selection would affect the process and overall balance of the court. He urges senators to make a "healthy mix of competing views” and further says to prevent the judges and the court from being biased. Author assumes that US presidents have been found indulged in the process of making the judges of their own choices. He says that senators should not hesitate in selecting a competent judge and in following the appropriate procedures for the selection. He gives a precedent of 1969 when Richard Nixon's nomination of southerner Clement Haynesworth was turned down by the Senate because Haynesworth had participated as a federal appellate in the cases as judge even though he had some financial interest in one of the companies. Tribe's words for Haynesworth are “he nevertheless was a judge of some distinction”.
Lawrence Tribe in his book suggests nominee to be prepared while facing the selection procedure and further to explain his position and attitude on the previous performances, views on precedents, views on deciding constitutional cases, views on public faith and other important issues. Tribe considers this process very significant in order to check the competence of the judges and to probe that they are not being deceptive while delivering the verdicts. He quotes the example of Immigration & Naturalization Service v. Chadha, 1983 wherein violation of separation of powers was struck down by the court as "legislative veto”. The executive was delegated the authority to veto by Congress though option of proscription was confined and reserved. In this case, this decision invalidated a number of federal statutory provisions which were not struck down by the Supreme Court in the last two centuries. Author says that problem arises when judges start working as activists and usually all of them do. The nature of their activism may differ from case to case, person to person but their position is natured to be affected by activism. Author says that nominees should convince the senators with their competence, experience and impartiality.
This book has been centre of attraction for the huge number of people from the various sections of the society. Lawyers, other intellectuals and common readers see this book as a good remedy to improve the judicial system. They think that the ideas that are mentioned in the book are very effective and if they are properly implemented, the judiciary will be more effective and judges will care about the public opinion also on several issues of national importance. Senators also like this book as this book suggests a number of rights and recommend their say into the whole process of selecting the judges of the US Supreme Court. The author talks about some really fresh ideas about the system and especially the selection process of the Supreme Court judges.
After having observed the abovementioned discussion about book and the author it is good to say that author is really concerned about the transparent and effective process of selecting the Supreme Court judges. Though author seems a bit skeptical while criticizing the judges and the whole process of selecting the judges but his doubts are not baseless and suggestions are not dull. Since he has been practicing in the supreme court of the United States, he is aware of the proceedings and judges. It is also possible that He may have some predicaments with the judges and that reflects in the book authored by him. There are many scholars who have objected the language used by the author in the book. At places he also refuses the intent of framers of the US constitution and suggests the senators to go against them while making a new process to selecting the judges. The author is a learned man and some of his suggestions are very valuable and worth of following.
Work Cited
Tribe, Laurence H. God Save This Honorable Court - How the Choice of Supreme Court Justices Shapes Our History . Crawley: Mentor , 1985.
