Word: benching
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...addition to the controversial espionagecase, Kaufman has made a name for himself on thefederal bench as an eloquent and consistentdefender of free speech and defendant rights...
They showed their colors last term. From civil rights to criminal procedures to privacy protections, the Justices of the U.S. Supreme Court took a series of dramatic rightward steps that made them the most conservative high bench in a generation. This week, as the Justices open a new session, the question is not whether the court will continue along that path but how far and how fast it will go. Says University of Chicago law professor Richard Epstein: "Some decisions that people on the left saw as benchmarks are contestable again...
Legal scholars trace the origins of the court's rightward swing to Richard Nixon's four appointments to the high bench. Reagan gave the right a working majority by naming his new Justices -- Sandra Day O'Connor, Antonin Scalia and Anthony Kennedy -- on the basis of conservative ideology. The three appear to have forged an alliance with Byron White and William Rehnquist, whom Reagan elevated to Chief Justice in 1986. Together, says Geoffrey Stone, dean of the University of Chicago Law School, they form a "gang of five that increasingly operates without taking into consideration the views of the other...
Right to Die. For the first time, the court will delve into the murky questions surrounding the hopelessly sick when they consider the case of Nancy Cruzan, a comatose patient in a Missouri hospital. The high bench is being asked to decide whether there is a constitutional right of privacy broad enough to permit her parents to request the withdrawal of feeding tubes so that she can die with dignity...
...effects of the court's move to the right are too widespread to be easily altered. The changes wrought by the high bench -- in jurisprudence, legislation and political strategies -- will continue to affect the course of national affairs for years to come...