Distrust of the federal judiciary among social conservatives owes partly to the perception that the judiciary has embraced and constitutionalized viewpoints widely shared in the nation’s law schools but disputed elsewhere. See, e.g., Romer v. Evans 517 U.S. 610 (1996) (Scalia, J., dissenting) (“When the Court takes sides in the culture wars, it tends to be with the knights rather than the villains–and more specifically with the Templars, reflecting the views and values of the lawyer class from which the Court’s Members are drawn.”). Whether or not this view is sound, it envisions most law schools as having taken sides in modern debates over important aspects of the meaning of the Constitution.
Given that perception, I’m not sure how much it helps to have the Deans at most of the nation’s law schools sign a letter in which they “strongly oppose” recent criticism, express “full support” for the federal judiciary, and “urge” people to stop threatening to impeach or otherwise retaliate against judges for their decisions. I certainly agree that many of the recent attacks have gone way too far — to the point of parody, even. At the same time, I wonder if the letter will backfire. Existing critics presumably will see it as proof that they’re right; they’ll figure the Deans are defending the judges because they’re on the same side. The fact that Deans at a number of schools known to be more conservative declined to sign the letter will only further that perception.
Thanks to Brian Leiter for the link.
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