CORRESPONDENCE
CO ESPOND The Good Stuff Just finished the October issue. What a splendid piece of work! Allow me to credit those involved in the new look with a job very well done. Kudos to your graphic...
...Five stars...
...Lee himself doubted whether Hood had the administrative abilities for such a position...
...University of Pittsburgh Press Ben Stein's even-handed treatment of the cause for which my ancestor fought ("Preserving the Civil War," TAS, October 2003...
...They are timely, crisp incisive, provocative, well written and well edited...
...Without perceived legitimacy the Supreme Court may remain neither supreme nor a court...
...John Farley The Phillips Foundation 7811 Montrose Road Potomac, MD 20854 (301 340-2100 jfarley phillips.com www.thephi ipsfoundation.org Where the Evidence Leads AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY DICK THORNBUR GH "One of the most dedicated public servants I have ever met...
...It is true that Hood proved a poor choice to replace Gen...
...Let me suggest that there are two ways to ensure the Supreme Court's legitimacy...
...Staggered terms would ensure a balanced pace of change...
...Joseph E. Johnston as commander of the Army of Tennessee...
...Hood's battle wounds—which had left him with a mangled arm and a missing leg—made it difficult for him to ride horseback, and thus impaired his functioning as commander...
...The prospect of a Supreme Court whose agenda is applying and interpreting the law is dim, given the ingrained partisan misuse of the confirmation process...
...Certainly, it is fair to attach that label to Bragg, a man with a knack for blundering, and who was memorably denounced by Gen...
...First, we could appoint Justices who view the Constitution as a law to be interpreted with restraint, like any other...
...I guarantee you will not put it down...
...Bush in the Bush Watching the elephants ("The Continuing Crisis," TAS, August-September 2003) probably reminded the Prez of Capitol Hill...
...Nathan B. Forrest: "I have stood your meanness as long as I intend to...
...He again served with conspicuous bravery at Chickamauga...
...That leaves us with the second option, one I, as a lawyer, embrace reluctantly...
...Stein has avoided the sort of South-bashing that seems so ubiquitous nowadays...
...Praise to the writers and editors for articles of just the right length (four columns, for the most part...
...ROBERT STACY McCAIN Washington, D.C...
...The appointment of Justices who do not seek to implement a personal social agenda has been unusual in the last half century...
...Under the Hood As the great-grandson of a Confederate soldier who served in Robert E. Lee's army, I greatly appreciate 8 THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR NOVEMBER 2003 CORRE "0 NCE $50,000 JOURNALISM FELLOWSHIP Working print journalists with less than five years' experience may apply for the 2004 Phillips Foundation Journalism Fellowship Program offering $50,000 full-time and $25,000 part-time fellowships...
...In that plebiscite, judicial qualifications are routinely disregarded...
...I once heard the legislative process compared to the mating of elephants: everything done at a high level, lots of screaming and yelling, and a wait of two years to see any results...
...Contact: Mr...
...NOVEMBER 2003 THE AMERICAN SPECTATOR 9...
...The blue-eyed Kentuckian became famous as leader of the Texas Brigade, which broke the Union line at Gaines Mill and saved Lee's left at Sharpsburg...
...If not, the congressional committee bows to "public outrage" and the nominee is rejected...
...But was the gallant Hood "incompetent...
...His excellent service as brigadier won Hood promotion to division command, where he distinguished himself in the second day's fight at Gettysburg...
...Stein's yoking together Confederate Gen...
...the nominee is paraded before the congressional committee, whose members pelt him or her with invective...
...I am grateful that Mr...
...You have played the part of a damned scoundrel, and are a coward, and if you were any part of a man I would slap your jaws and force you to resent it...
...However, I must take issue with Mr...
...While praise is going around we should thank Ed Hashey for the cover art of the October issue...
...PETER LATHAM Washington, D.C...
...Sherman a heck of a fight at Atlanta, and the Confederate defeat there was not entirely Hood's fault (e.g., Hardee's delayed flank march on July 22...
...The judicial confirmation process has already been degraded into a form of plebiscite...
...That, as I understand it, is Judge Bork's view of the matter, and it is preferable...
...It is this: admit that the Supreme Court legislates, and amend the Constitution to require that these judicial "legislators" be elected like their congressional brethren...
...Braxton Bragg as "incompetents...
...President George H. it Bosh "A true giant of American law and politics...
...John Bell Hood and Gen...
...His article raises an important point, which is: "What is to be done about a rogue Supreme Court...
...This question becomes increasingly important as the Supreme Court's decisions remove more and more issues from the democratic process...
...Despite these shortcomings, Hood at least gave Union Gen...
...As a professional writer and editor, I sure appreciated seeing the good stuff...
...Have I left out any adjectives of praise...
...1. Must be a U.S...
...If the nominee is clever, or has clever handlers, the invective is deflected, the public approves and the nominee is confirmed...
...Lam, King "The most interesting personal and political autobiography I have read in years...
...It is unfair to label Hood "incompetent," when he had demonstrated himself to be an excellent officer in every position he held prior to his appointment as commander of the Army of Tennessee...
...You may as well not issue any orders to me, for I will not obey them, and I will hold you personally responsible for any further indignities you endeavor to inflict upon me...and I say to you that if you ever again try to interfere with me or cross my path it will be at the peril of your life...
...This proposal for an elected Supreme Court should seem unusual to no one...
...citizen...
...Hood's Tennessee campaign was a desperate measure that ended badly, but the Confederates by that time had few good strategic options in the western theater...
...SHELDON H. AVENIUS Arlington, Virginia The editors reply: Thanks, we're blushing...
...This process is only somewhat better than mob rule and a formal elective process is preferable to it...
...Winners undertake a one-year project of their choosing focusing on journalism supportive of American culture and a free society...
...In the rush to get it out the door, he went uncredited...
...In Where the Evidence Leads he candidly reveals the joys, frustrations, mistakes, and accomplishments of his career in public service...
...www.pitt.edu/–press At bookstores everywhere...
...David Eisenhower Perhaps best known as the attorney general who I returned respectability to the office in the late 1980s, Dick Thornburgh has been a key participant in and observer of American political and legal life for more than three decades...
...Kudos to your graphic designer for a superb new layout style...
...Application deadline March 1; fellowships commence Sept...
...BARRY JACKSON Gilbert, Arizona Rogues in Robes I have dust finished reading Spencer Roane's article, "Moral Idiocy: The Supreme Court Says 'No' to the Constitution" (TAS, August-September 2003...
...Single terms of ten years would ensure independence as much as life-long tenure...
Vol. 36 • November 2003 • No. 6
