Hola, all. THis prolly won't get through, and it should, cuz if political
Chomsky's about anything, he's about how private interests distort public
policy and the public space to achieve immunity from the consequences that
would visit upon individuals who did the same deeds. This is appalling,
though of course no more so than welfare reform, energy reform, economic
reform, etc. In every case "reform" can be read the reduction of the role
and voice of collective civic responsibility in favor of reducing the costs
and gutting benefits derived of providing shared public goods.

Ah'm proud tew be inuhMurican where at least Ah know Ahm free...
>
>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
>March 24, 1998
>
>CONTACT: David Elliot, Delisa Saunders (202) 467-4999
>
>`Judicial Reform' Bill Would Curtail Judicial Remedies,
>Says People For the American Way's Carole Shields
>
> A bill will be voted on today by the House Judiciary Committee that
> would severely restrict the ability of many Americans to seek justice
> in the federal courts and would worsen the problems already created
> by the 105th Congress' failure to fill court vacancies, People For
> the American Way President Carole Shields said Tuesday.
>
> H.R. 1252, the so-called "Judicial Reform Act of 1997," would
> effectively forbid federal courts from entering any order or
> approving any settlement that requires any state or local government
> to increase taxes. Courts would be forbidden from taking such action
> even when such an order is necessary to provide relief for a
> violation of constitutional rights.
>
> "The federal courts exist to uphold the rights of Americans,"
>Shields said. "If a school district is illegally practicing
>segregation, if a state's prisons are found to be unconstitutional
>because of overcrowding, if a municipality is polluting its water
>supply, then we turn to the courts for relief. If this bill becomes
>law, we would often be unable to get effective relief."
>
> Had H.R. 1252 been law in 1954, Shields added, "school districts
> upset with the Brown v. Board of Education ruling could have just
> ignored it by refusing to fund their school districts. Indeed, Prince
> Edward's County in Virginia tried to do that very thing, and the U.S.
> Supreme Court told them they couldn't."
>
> Elliot Mincberg, People For the American Way Legal Director, added
> that the true effect of H.R. 1252 would be to deny Americans' civil
> and constitutional rights. "This legislation would sometimes require
> the courts to say, `You have a right without a remedy,'" Mincberg
> said. "But we know that a right without a remedy really amounts to
>no right at all."
>
> Mincberg added that H.R. 1252 also would exacerbate problems in the
> courts through several other provisions, including one that allows
> each side in a court case the right to reject the judge assigned to
> the case and to re-assign it to another judge.  "First,
>conservatives in the Senate make speedy and efficient justice
>impossible by not filling vacancies and thus greatly increasing
>workloads," Mincberg said. "Then, conservatives in the House seek to
>make matters worse by increasing the costs of litigation and the time
>it takes to get to trial, and even rejecting an amendment calling for
>a GAO study on the adverse impact of judicial vacancies.  Making
>justice unattainable in a reasonable manner is not the American way."
>
>People For the American Way is a 300,000-member non-profit
>organization dedicated to defending civil rights; promoting the
>democratic values of religious freedom and respect for diversity; and
>developing a culture of opportunity and tolerance of individual
>difference.
>
>
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