No. Some people have speculated that I would be more pleased by the rough-and-tumble of politics than the solitary confinement of the court. That’s not true. It was not a question of deciding that I wouldn’t enjoy the court. The law is a wonderful life and it’s an aspiration I’ve always had. I can’t think of a more pleasant way to spend a lifetime than being free to work on the law, unfettered by polls, elections and the need to raise money. Someone told me, “You really like to slug it out with the legislature.” That’s ridiculous. What am I-perverted? … It’s just that when the moment came that might have been the opportunity to be on the court, I concluded very swiftly that, apart from what I would enjoy most, the place I could do the most good is here and now in New York.
My discussion with the president was about a specific situation at a specific point in time.
I don’t want to say anything more that would spoil the neatness of my decision or create any more speculation.
That was unfortunate and embarrassing. I was in the midst of budget negotiations, which is perhaps the hardest thing you can imagine in the political year. My secretary is literal. When I said, “No calls, we must make this budget,” I forgot to say, “unless it’s the president or my wife.”
Perhaps I should’ve made a third exception [laughing].
I could not know.
The things that the president said he was looking for-judgment, integrity, a big heart-are exactly right. But those qualities are not limited to nonjudges with vast political experience or judges with vast judicial experience. They found them once in Warren, who was never a judge. They found them in Benjamin Cardozo, who had extraordinarily narrow experience, devoted to the law most of his adult life.
Some of what I’ve said would have become controversial-my strong political position against the death penalty, for example, and what that implied about possible judicial determinations I would’ve made. It would have been a pleasure discussing that kind of question. You know Warren Burger said it perfectly-that as a legislator, he would have voted against the death penalty, but that as a judge he found it constitutional … I think the hearings would have been about whether I was right or wrong in a 1986 speech I gave. I said the criteria for selecting justices has been wrong for 200 years. There shouldn’t be any litmus tests and nominees need not mirror a president’s political philosophy.
Matilda and my immediate family approached the question differently than I did. They concentrated on what would be nicest, easiest and most pleasant for Mario-rather than where the need was.
The Supreme Court overwhelmingly.
It doesn’t amuse or surprise me. The assumption in the press is that you’ll do what’s easiest or best for you. You know, I’m at risk here because it might seem like I’m trying to tell people I’m holier than thou. That’s not the point at all. There are a lot of people in public service-politicians, doctors in the inner city, teachers, police and firepeople-because they think they’re making a small contribution.
That would also be very, very flattering-for a guy who hit.239 in a D League. But I think I’m most useful where I am.
title: “No Justice No Peace” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-18” author: “Randy Johnson”
These are bad times for tax collectors in the Middle Kingdom. Beijing is trying to recentralize power to pull in revenue–partly because regional authorities have been extracting fees willy-nilly from the rural population, calling them “taxes.” But peasant incomes have been dropping due to falling grain prices. The result: peasants are up in arms–sometimes literally–against arbitrary fees while the central government loses revenue. And virtually all the unauthorized local “taxes” wind up in the pockets of crooked officials.
So what’s a government to do? Beijing is targeting tax fraud–and corrupt local authorities–as part of a new nationwide “Strike Hard” anticrime campaign. Four people were executed in mid-May in Shantou as part of China’s biggest tax-fraud case; an additional 167 people are still being investigated in the $3.8 billion scam. If the campaign is successful, perhaps force won’t need to be used against overstretched taxpayers, too.
