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Are you suggesting the court would take public opinion under consideration as being at all relevant to the law? That's very worrying to me, considering how impo
by themartorana 11y ago
Are you suggesting the court would take public opinion under consideration as being at all relevant to the law? That's very worrying to me, considering how important it's been in the past for the court to ignore public opinion in favor of justice.
- Lawtonfogle 11y agoOf course they do. They shouldn't, but the law doesn't work that way. In some cases the court may even decide to enshrine the public's opinion as a valid tool for determining legality (such as what speech counts as obscenity).
- untog 11y agoThere's also a longer term play - no matter what the court rules, if public reaction is strong enough then elected representatives will be under pressure to change the law.
- logfromblammo 11y agoIf judges were the type to rule solely on provable facts and rigid logic, they probably would have been better off pursuing a degree other than Juris Doctor. Judges absolutely factor in public opinion to their rulings, especially where they must periodically undergo public votes to retain or dismiss on election day.
- gaadd33 11y agoAre any federal judges elected? I was under the impression they are all appointed and can't be removed without impeachment and conviction.
- tamana 11y agoPublic opinion is plainly part of the definition of justice. cultural norms are frequently cited in decisions.
- scrollaway 11y agoCultural norms are not the same thing as public opinion. Or do you want the FBI to run attack ads against Apple? Your tax dollars at work taking care of that pesky "public opinion".
- skywhopper 11y agoI didn't mean the courts (although that's an interesting discussion). The political play I mean is that the FBI is trying to get Congress to change the laws surrounding this topic.