Charles Fairman Quotes
When it is left entirely to a judge to decide whether he should give place to another he becomes a judge in his case....
Charles Fairman, Professor, Harvard Law School, 51 Harvard Law Review, 1938
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
He served on a Supreme Court that was as close to political as any had ever been. Hence his great concern.
The judiciary in the American system must give deference to the executive and legislative branches and interfere only when there is a violation of the Constitution. Many of the laws may well be viewed as bad policy by the judge, or in some case, may be unjust. The judge however cannot interfere just because he is dealing with bad or unjust laws. So Judge Scalia points out that the judge functioning properly in the American system will find that he personally does not like the consequences of his own opinions.
Judges are restrained by the law and precedence (stare decisis), as well as having to uphold what he/she thinks are undesirable laws or find against laws he thinks are good. He must decide on the law and the facts of the particular case. And if he is an appellate or a Supreme Court judge he must make compromises to accommodate other justices hearing the case along with him/her.
The government of Pakistan regarded this as seditious. The Government can fire judges at will and the military has the right to convene its own courts and try Pakistani civilians for certain alleged crimes by removing their cases from the civilian courts. Even when a Pakistani judge is not intimidated by the government or the military, the Islamic extremist fanatics often assassinate any public official who any one of thousands of fanatics feels is anti-Islamic.
The notion of lifetime appointment for federal judges had been debated before and during the constitutional convention. The founders wrote it into the constitution to give the judges more security so that they could not be pressured by politicians or wealthy individuals. Also, without this concept many countries have judges who are just rubber stamps for the legislature or the leader of the country.
