Saturday, July 07, 2007

Anna Diggs Taylor’s 15 Minutes of Fame


Remember the above front page headline?

Well, here’s today’s.


Poor Anna Diggs Taylor. She was a front page star on August 19, 2006. At that time, as if in response to a no-brainer question on “Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader,” Taylor made the less than stunning pronouncement that “There are no hereditary kings in America”.

Shortly after her ruling it was discovered that her judicial ethics were a bit out of line. She ruled in the case even though she was Secretary and Trustee for a foundation that donated funds to the plaintiff in the case.

Now she is not only a judge under a cloud, she is just some unnamed judge.

Today's front page story in the Oregonian about what happened to Judge Taylor’s ruling notes her existence. She’s described in the LA Times-Washington Post article* as: “the only judge who held that a controversial surveillance effort by the National Security Agency was unconstitutional” and “a U.S. District Court judge in Detroit, Mich.” But no name. Just some judge overturned because she got standing to sue wrong.

Thankfully the U.S. Appeals Court did not have to rule on her higher judicial abilities. Fifth grader Spencer might have been a big help to her.

*The link is to the Concord Monitor version of the article because the Oregonian does not put stories online that it buys from news services.

2 comments:

Ron Hager said...

You said:
"My view is somewhat international, having lived abroad for almost ten years."

I thought:
"His view is crappy because he has had his head in a warm dark place for so long."

But That is my opinion and I doubt you listen to anything other than the voices in your head.

T. D. said...

C. L. Hermit,

I'm not the hermit. You should try getting out and about a bit more.

Travel--even better, living abroad, relating to common people, learning their language--truly does broaden the mind. And if you can listen to someone speaking from another viewpoint, it enriches your life.

Try it sometime.