Now the fray has drawn in the third branch of the government. Yesterday, Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, while speaking to a group of liberal bloggers, jumped feet first into the scuffle. According to this story in the Wall Street Journal's Law Blog, Senator Reid claimed that the justices of the Supreme Court did not understand the practical ramifications of the decision, adding ''Do you think John Roberts knows or cares how people get elected?''
As a liberal, I cringed when I heard the President openly challenge the Court during the State of the Union. While I agree with his conclusions, I'm deeply troubled by any attack on the independence of the judiciary and by the ever increasing rancor between liberals and conservatives. The independent judiciary relies on legitimacy to be effective. When other branches of the government bring that legitimacy into question, whether by politicizing the selection of federal prosecutors and judges or by publicly attacking the Court's decisions, they weaken the perception of an unbiased legal system.
The battle over Citizens United will continue as Congress looks for ways to rewrite the campaign finance laws to overcome the constitutional issues, and it is right and proper that Congress does so. That's the way it is supposed to work. I join the Chief Justice in urging Congress to back away from the practice of asking judicial appointees partisan questions in order to score political points, and I long for the day when all Americans - liberals, conservatives, moderates, pundits, politicians and citizens, can come together to find common ground instead of treating every disagreement as a black and white battle for the soul of democracy.
