Barrister by day, Bacardi by night

Constitution above all else

The crime of which Williams was convicted was senseless and brutal, calling for swift and energetic action by the police to apprehend the perpetrator and gather evidence with which he could be convicted. No mission of law enforcement officials is more important. Yet "[d]isinterested zeal for the public good does not assure either wisdom or right in the methods it pursues." Although we do not lightly affirm the issuance of a writ of habeas corpus in this case, so clear a violation of the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments as here occurred cannot be condoned. The pressures on state executive and judicial officers charged with the administration of the criminal law are great, especially when the crime is murder and the victim a small child. But it is precisely the predictability of those pressures that makes imperative a resolute loyalty to the guarantees that the Constitution extends to us all.

Justice Stewart, Brewer v. Williams, 430 U.S. 387 (1977).

High court full of pixie dust

Today's extension of the Edwards prohibition is the latest stage of prophylaxis built upon prophylaxis, producing a veritable fairyland castle of imagined constitutional restriction upon law enforcement. This newest tower, according to the Court, is needed to avoid "inconsisten[cy] with [the] purpose" of Edwards' prophylactic rule, ante, at 154, which was needed to protect Miranda's prophylactic right to have counsel present, which was needed to protect the right against compelled self-incrimination found (at last!) in the Constitution.

Justice Antony Scalia - Minnick v. Mississippi, 498 U.S. 146 (1990)

Activist Judges

Former Solicitor General Olson, when asked about the current buzz phrase “activist judges,” stated that he doesn’t like the term. “Everybody uses that term for a decision that they don’t like,” he said. “It’s a label that is not useful.”

Article: ABA - Is the independence of the judiciary at risk?