NEWS CLIPS

Has Missouri forgotten checks and balances?

Gov. Matt Blunt infrequently disagrees publicly with the Missouri legislature, which is controlled by fellow Republicans who think like him on issues of the day.

But the governor gives the judiciary a verbal tongue lashing quite often.

In fact, if you listen to Blunt, you might think the adjective "activist" is permanently attached to "judges" in the common vernacular. And that it must always be said with a snarl.

Blunt says that the courts should reflect the values of the people of Missouri. And those values, it seems, are what Matt Blunt says they are. Not what the courts deem constitutional.

Whenever a court decision goes against the Blunt administration, we hear that again.

Thus, in Blunt’s perfect world, a judge would have reflected Missourians values last year by allowing many children to languish in foster homes, because the state cut the subsidies that help families afford to adopt them.

And, according to the governor, the state’s proper values would have been reflected in the cuts to Medicaid services, such as wheelchair batteries and crutches for the poor with disabilities.

True, the decisions to restore the funding in both those cases were made by federal judges, who said the state had violated federal law. Blunt has no control over these judges. But the governor is adamant, anyway, that the courts go along with the legislature in each and every case, or else they are making laws outside their authority.

In one dangerous move, Blunt has been a cheerleader for a proposed constitutional amendment that would keep state courts from ruling on lawsuits about taxes and spending.

The amendment, if passed by the voters, would keep the Supreme Court from ruling on, for example, a school-finance lawsuit such as the one that prodded Kansas lawmakers to do better with their schools funding two years ago.

In choosing members of the judicial commissions that nominate persons for circuit judgeships in Jackson, Clay, Platte and St. Louis counties, the governor named individuals he proudly proclaimed "believe as I believe that the role of judges is to interpret the law, not legislate from the bench." The governor gets two appointments to the five-member commissions.

Blunt said the same thing in announcing the appointment last month of Donald Ross of St. Louis to the appellate judicial commission, which is responsible for filling vacancies on the Supreme Court or Court of Appeals.

"I am looking forward to working with the commission in establishing a judiciary that leaves the policy-making to Missouri’s elected officials," the governor said.

That should send a shudder up some spines.

Blunt’s staff denies that commission applicants are subjected to "litmus test" questions.

David Barth, a real estate agent in Parkville -- who recently was named to the Sixth Circuit Judicial Commission in Platte County -- says he wasn’t asked for his ideas about judicial activism or legislating from the bench when he met with the governor’s chief of staff, Ed Martin, and others.

Barth says he felt that they wanted someone who was knowledgeable about Platte County and who would present qualified potential appointees to the governor. Barth is a Republican and says he is conservative like the governor, but he says he hasn’t been involved in politics.

Jessica Robinson, the governor’s press secretary, says the commission appointments are important positions and the interviews include questions about expectations for judges and what kind of person would make the best judge.

As we all learned in school, the three branches of government exist to check and balance each other.

Through the powers of persuasion and the veto, governors can convince legislatures to go along with them. And legislative majorities can, and often do, side with executives in their own party.

It is up to the judicial branch to keep them from joining together to stomp on individual rights and constitutional guarantees.

Blunt’s success in ridding the courts of those pesky judges who rule against him could set the stage for legislative authority unchecked by the judiciary. That would be a most unfortunate legacy.