LETTERS: THE NECESSITY OF A NEUTRAL JUDIARY

To the editor:

As a former state police officer, a former law clerk to a federal judge and an attorney, I read with much interest Sheriff Kenny Jones' letter to the editor regarding the failed nomination of Judge Ronnie White to the U.S. District Court. I have also read similar articles and letters concerning Judge White's nomination.

While Sheriff Jones has a justifiably passionate view of Judge White based on his written opinion in a particular case, such views can never be the basis for deciding whether a nominee should or should not be appointed as a federal judge. Our system has always contemplated, indeed commanded, an independent and neutral judiciary to resolve individual and societal disputes. Because we have an adversarial system of justice, we will always have disappointed members of society who feel a judge or jury let them down or did not agree with their point of view. That is an unfortunate, but inevitable, by-product of our adversarial system.

The true measure of any judge's competence is whether he or she will view the facts and apply the law fairly and consistently in all cases. We must avoid, as much as it humanly possible, basing our measure of judicial ability on one case or one judicial opinion. Such an approach is myopic at best and, at worst, offends the underlying integrity of our judicial system. The evaluation of judges based on decisions in particular cases will contaminate the independence and neutrality of the judiciary. No matter what your political perspectives or societal viewpoints are, there is great risk in having judges decide cases while fearing the political or evaluative ramifications of those decisions at some later point. Similarly, there are obvious dangers in a unilateral judiciary that represents a limited view of justice. The true merit of our judicial system is its independence, its neutrality and its diversity of perspectives. We must strive, even when such effort is painful, to preserve such a system despite our overwhelming feelings of loss or injustice in a given case.

MILO MILLER

Jackson