By: E&P Staff The upcoming issue of Time magazine, out tomorrow, features a cover story on the Supreme Court by David Von Drehle -- and country legend Merle Haggard coming out for Hillary Clinton.
Also, Jenna Bush, daughter of the president, asked why she supports the Iraq war but hasn't volunteered to serve there, answers, "I understand the point, but there are many ways to serve our country, and I think my skills are better suited for teaching and representing the U.S. in Latin America through UNICEF....But if people eally thought about it, they would know it's not even a practical question." She also rules out ever going into politics.
Justice Clarence Thomas, author of a new autobiography, hails closer relations among justices under Chief Justice John Roberts. Now it ?is a place where rather than hurling aspersions, people will actually sit at lunch and chat and laugh ? When I first got here, it was two, three people, a maximum of four. Now, today, for example, it was the entire court, all nine. It is an interesting experience.?
But Von Drehle observes that in the court?s current behavior, ?Bombast, rhetorical excess and dueling opinions are thick with Pompeian ash.?
Asked what lessons he has learned since joining the court, Thomas replied: ?This job is easy for people who don?t do it, have no authority to do it or have their minds made up on a particular side of an issue. For the rest of us, who have to start at square one and decide cases, it is a hard job and it is a humbling job. So I will not criticize other people who have had to decide cases in their time.?
But Von Drehle observes that ?the court is tackling fewer cases than any at any other time in the past half century. Last term?s output of just 65 decisions was the lowest since 1953.?
Elsewhere, legendary country & western star Haggard, a former Reagan and George W. Bush supporter, tells Joe Klein he will be happy to vote for Hillary Clinton: ?I?m not exactly a liberal. But I know how the Texas thing works, who those oil folks are and what they wanted in Iraq ? Fear?s the only issue the Republican Party has. Vote for them, or the terrorists will win. That?s not what Reagan was about.? Bill Clinton, he says, ?cared about this country, about our problems. And I figure that whatever she doesn?t know, he does.?
The issue also features photos from Burma by famed photog James Nachtwey.
Go to www.time.com.
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here