Judicial Activism in Flat Rock

I get the Nebraska edition of StatePaper.com in my e-mail. The gent that puts it together, Ed Howard, is a veteran left-leaning Associated Press journalist, but he roots out the good stuff on a regular basis. Today's edition had a story entitled: Judge Murphy Decries Invective, Diatribe In Public Policy Debate, about a decision by Lincoln County District Judge John Murphy. Mr. Howard's emphasis is on Judge Murphy's finely worded finger-scraping at less than civil litigants in a highly politicised (but otherwise irrelevant) North Platte lawsuit. Hardly a pressing issue these days.

Following Mr. Howard's link to the original story in the North Platte Bulletin - Lincoln County's News Alternative, I found more excerpts from Judge Murphy's fine opinion. (District Court opinions aren't generally published, so the reporter, Frank Graham is doing us a big service here.) The real emphasis that Judge Murphy wanted to put on his remarks beame obvious. It wasn't what Ed Howard wanted his readers to take from his honor's eloquent words; it was even better! Here is an excerpt:

“Courts are not super-legislators endowed with the wisdom to second-guess the decision of the elected representatives of the people,” Murphy wrote. “For a court to substitute its judgment for that of a legislative body would bespeak an arrogance totally inappropriate to the way this republican form of democracy functions.”

“It is not for this court to determine whether or not the actions of the City of North Platte are wise or foolish, farsighted or myopic, prudent or wasteful,” Murphy wrote. He said the final judgment must come from citizens, not the courts.

Note that these amazing words come from the mouth of a judge that was appointed by Democrat Governor Bob Kerrey! If you visit the Feed Trough story in the North Platte Bulletin, be sure to read the comments posted there. It put a shine on my day!

Compare the Ed Howard story with the Frank Graham's reportage. Do you think Ed, who writes for the MSM (AP) or Frank, small town reporter, is doing the best job of letting us know what Judge Murphy really had to say? I think Ed is 'putting a spin' on an outstate story for the more citified readers in Lincoln and Omaha. They don't want to hear about this kind of Activist Judge.

Link added: See Frank Graham's blog, Frankly Speaking , and more of Frank's take on the case here.