European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - November 11, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 the stars and stripes wednesday november1, 1987 columns Anthony Lewis Reagan plays politics in High court selections who Pawai the collapse of his second successive Nomi nation to the supreme court ills us much about Ron Ald Reagan it shows us the Price we pay for having a president who in even his most solemn appointing function is driven by narrow interests of politics and ideology. How could a president who talks about inc need for Law and order pick As a supreme court nominee some one who illegally used marijuana when he was a Law professor How could a president who has proclaimed the War against drug abuse fail to be informed of that easily discoverable fact about his nominee the questions arc not hard to answer president Reagan was interested in Only one thine when he made his Choice for inc court stuffing a conservative Down he throats of the senators who had Defeated Robert Bork. In the Rush to revenge Here was no time for care in scrutiny. The partisan ideological Mol Valion was Clear from the Siart in Reagan s nomination of judge Douglas Ginsburg. The Choice was urged on him by attorney general Meese and other zealots. The White House chief of staff. Howard Baker counselled selection of a conservative whose qualification would assure easy confirmation but the president did not want a Justice. He wanted a fight. Ginsburg is an intelligent interesting Man. Bui no one could seriously argue thai he is among the lawyers Busl qualified to sit on the supreme court of the United slates. He has never Willen about inc court s Princi pal Modem concern constitutional Law. His experience As a judge and a Justice department official is thin Reagan made the very act of announcing the Choice an angry partisan occasion. He culminated against the Senate for its care in considering bark s nomination and suggested that the delay had somehow helped criminals. The empty scat on the supreme court has been a casualty in the fight for victims rights in the War against crime the president said. The statement ought to win the 1987 non sequitur prize for the speech writer who gave it to Reagan to read. There followed a barrage of White House piffle Frank j. Donatelli assistant to the president for Politi Cal and intergovernmental affairs sent a letter to Law yers and others around the country urging support for Ginsburg and for immediate Senate hearings. Judge Ginsburg shares the president s View about the importance of Law enforcement the letter said. He docs not believe hat judges should constantly William Safire mow invent new Road blocks for the police to then came the disclosure about Ginsburg s use of marijuana apparently As recently As 1979. Reagan said it was just a Youthful indiscretion. Bui Ginsburg was not a youth. He was. . There is a special peculiarity in Reagan seeming to excuse drug use when he and mrs. Reagan arc so identified with the War on drugs. But like most things he docs thai War is just words. The Federal Effort against serious drugs has been declining in effectiveness. Here As elsewhere inc Reagan record is one of hypocrisy. Millions of americans have tried marijuana and it would be preposterous to make that a general Lesi of worthiness in our society. But there is no Way of escaping the fact thai having on the supreme court someone who had violated the drug Laws As an adult would be embarrassing or worse. Drug issues arc a very important aspect of constitutional Law right now. There Are Many proposals by government bodies and private companies to make employees take drug tests proposals thai Are being fiercely resisted As illegal searches and my Jioni of privacy a judge known 10 have used drags in the pan would always be in an awkward position deciding such cases. The defeat of Bork drove the radicals of the extreme right Inlo a frenzy. They could not Bear the True mean ing of the defeat that the country rejected their desire for a wizened Constitution and weakened judicial Protection of individual rights. They Puih cd for a gesture of Defiance of War and Reagan obliged. Compare How another conservative president acted Herbert Hoover had a scat 10 fill on the supreme court in 1932. He had suffered an earlier de Feal. Now for this vacancy he chose a judge of Lumi Nous rep Lalion Benjamin n. Cardozo of new York. Hoover made the appoint mint although there were already two new yorkers on the court and another jew. He put the merits above politics. President Hoo ver for All his troubles respected the supreme court As an institution. Reagan plays Wilh in for his political ends. Lie defector fess violate our personal Freedom two million times a year american citizens arc subjected to Lic Del color tests. This explosion of the use of machines thai measure nervousness and that fail to catch the coot practice liar is the most blatant intrusion Inlo personal Freedom in this country today ninety eight percent of i Csc menial rapes Are performed by employers mostly in screening prospective workers. The purpose is to frighten the applicant Wilh the threat of being hooked up to some terrifying device and asked intimate questions. Thai s enough to scare off most people who have Ever had drinking drug psychological or any Oiler prob no screening procedure could be More in american than this Advance exclusion by car. Even when performed by Fri trained polygraph operators lie detection is mistaken too often to be accepted by most courts. The reason when hooked up la in Sive machines Many of us sweat and tremble. Thai makes honest people seem like liars. Although lawmen know the polygraph is not a device thai measures truthfulness they see it As More effective than a Truncheon and hot tights to coerce a suspect into confessing. Employers use in inc same Way to scare off applicants Wilh any kind of guilty conscience. This modern third degree is an abuse in Law enforcement and an abomination when used by private corporations against peo ple who have done nothing to warrant a search of their minds. The House has finally passed a Bill making in unlawful for any private employer to require request suggest or cause any employee or prospective employee to Lake or submit to any lie Detec Tor Security guard companies Are excluded and Industry lobbyists used the narcotics scare Loe Cpl companies engaged in inc manufacture or Sale of drugs. We resisted All the Othre says rep. Pal Williams of Montana. The House has voted to rid us of nine out of. 10 polygraph tests now being Bui the House has passed similar legis lation before Only to see it die in the Senate. The test now is in the Senate labor committee chaired by Edward Kennedy from whom we have heard so much recently about the right to privacy. Fob too Mijong lawmakers have ducked responsibility on privacy rights by passing he Bucklo inc supreme court. But we May be a decade from a decision using emanations to form a Penumbra Here and in the meantime Mil Lions will be deprived of Bolh rights and jobs. Why can l Congress act. As 22 slates already have to Stop Technocracy s Mer chants of sweat from plying their Trade Kennedy new defender of inc Sanctity of inc marital bedroom though thai area is not currently threatened has Long been programmed by his staff to pro claim his support of legislation defend ing inc Sanctity of the human mind. Bui taking the Lead requires courage. Plenty of a Ppd off companies and a lobby of polygraph operators in Wash inglut denounce such a Law defending n Job applicant s privacy As a criminal s Protection the labor committee chairman does not want to be out Iacre by himself or surrounded by democrats. He has dither cd for months waiting for Republican Orrin Hatch to co sponsor a Senate version of an anti polygraph Bill. I m a libertarian on this Mailer Hatch ills me. The question is do we allow society 10 coerce inc vast majority who Are honest to gel Al the few who Are dishonest so is he for this Law nobody should lose his Job or be de Nied the Opportunity Ofa Job exclusively As a Rchull of polygraph you should have reasonable however he worries thai the whole business Community will come unglued if he legislation is passed As written in the House. Orrin Hatch is Lom on one hand is the plea from businessmen who say icy lose $40 billion a year poem Loyee theft on the other is the example known to him of Senate staff aide Michael Pillsbury. Wrongly stripped of his position by a Bolch cd polygraph exam. When in doubt revert to Prin Ciple. If no reason Genisis 10 suspect a per son of wrongdoing he should not be made to tent a menial strip search Leas of All by a discredited device thai libels Loo Many Rulh a callers and gels fooled by pathological liars and spies. The Bailie for person in Freedom is joined Here and no. The Senate should pass this privacy Law the new score try of labor should enforce in vigorously throughout the world of Commerce and then we should Deal with the prolific a lion of this medieval monstrosity within the gov Emmonl. Way in to re Shari and Illian Tow Uit j Stein i
