Good Choices, Bad Process
Dublin Core
Title
Good Choices, Bad Process
Subject
Vermont Supreme Court
Description
An opinion piece about the selection of justices for the Vermont Supreme Court in 1997. Mello describes why he thinks the governor was flawed in his process of choosing the justices for the Supreme Court.
Creator
Mello, Michael
Source
Mello, Michael. "Good Choices, Bad Process." Valley News (Lebanon NH), August 10, 1997.
Publisher
HIST 298, University of Mary Washington
Date
1997-08-10
Rights
The materials in this online collection are held by Special Collections, Simpson Library, University of Mary Washington and are available for educational use. For this purpose only, you may reproduce materials without prior permission on the condition that you provide attribution of the source.
Format
1 JPG
300 DPI
Language
English
Coverage
Vermont
Text Item Type Metadata
Text
Valley News Sunday, August 10, 1997
Good Choices, Bad Process
To the Editor:
Your July 31 article “Dean’s Court Comments Draw Fire” might have had the unintended effect of leaving some readers with the mistaken impression that I oppose the governor’s two recent appointees to the Vermont Supreme Court. To the contrary, Gov. Dean, notwithstanding his naked attempts to stamp the court with his own ideological biases, made two superb picks for the court.
To paraphrase Gov. Dean, my beef isn’t with the people he placed on the court. My beef is with the governor who put ‘em there. Specifically, my beef is with the governor’s use of an ideological litmus test – his questioning potential judicial nominees about how they would have decided particular constitutional law cases, the results of which Dean disagrees with – which is especially offensive to the basic idea that judges are supposed to approach each case with an open mind.
And, in spite of Gov. Dean’s attempts to pack the Vermont Supreme Court with his ideological soul mates, my prediction is that both of Dean’s picks so far will be refreshingly free of ideological predispositions. Both have professional histories of fierce independence, thoughtfulness and courage. In light of Gov. Dean’s thuddingly predictable attacks on the independence of the Vermont judiciary, this last quality – courage – might in the long run become the most important.
A final prediction: In 10 years, Gov. Dean will be as disenchanted with his Supreme Court picks as he is peeved at the present court. Supreme Court justices have a history of disappointing their executive patrons. President Eisenhower, for instance, called his appointment of William Brennan – perhaps the greatest jurist of this century, who was laid to rest just recently – the “biggest mistake” of his presidency. A decade from now, if anyone is still listening to Howard Dean’s ignorant broadsides on the Vermont judiciary, he will be griping about the decisions his appointees reach in individual cases.
MICHAEL MELLO
Professor of Law
Vermont Law School
Good Choices, Bad Process
To the Editor:
Your July 31 article “Dean’s Court Comments Draw Fire” might have had the unintended effect of leaving some readers with the mistaken impression that I oppose the governor’s two recent appointees to the Vermont Supreme Court. To the contrary, Gov. Dean, notwithstanding his naked attempts to stamp the court with his own ideological biases, made two superb picks for the court.
To paraphrase Gov. Dean, my beef isn’t with the people he placed on the court. My beef is with the governor who put ‘em there. Specifically, my beef is with the governor’s use of an ideological litmus test – his questioning potential judicial nominees about how they would have decided particular constitutional law cases, the results of which Dean disagrees with – which is especially offensive to the basic idea that judges are supposed to approach each case with an open mind.
And, in spite of Gov. Dean’s attempts to pack the Vermont Supreme Court with his ideological soul mates, my prediction is that both of Dean’s picks so far will be refreshingly free of ideological predispositions. Both have professional histories of fierce independence, thoughtfulness and courage. In light of Gov. Dean’s thuddingly predictable attacks on the independence of the Vermont judiciary, this last quality – courage – might in the long run become the most important.
A final prediction: In 10 years, Gov. Dean will be as disenchanted with his Supreme Court picks as he is peeved at the present court. Supreme Court justices have a history of disappointing their executive patrons. President Eisenhower, for instance, called his appointment of William Brennan – perhaps the greatest jurist of this century, who was laid to rest just recently – the “biggest mistake” of his presidency. A decade from now, if anyone is still listening to Howard Dean’s ignorant broadsides on the Vermont judiciary, he will be griping about the decisions his appointees reach in individual cases.
MICHAEL MELLO
Professor of Law
Vermont Law School
Original Format
Newspaper
Contributor of the Digital Item
Jones, Margaret
Student Editor of the Digital Item
Van Doren, Jamie
Files
Citation
Mello, Michael, “Good Choices, Bad Process,” HIST299, accessed July 4, 2024, http://hist299.umwhistory.org/items/show/276.