Hamstring the Man

A federal judge in Detroit, not believing a self-employed securities trader's request to be exempted from the onerous requirements of grand jury duty, has made him sit in the proverbial corner. The man must report to the Levin US Courthouse every day the jury meets (Tue - Thu, every other week) and sit in the hallway, without pay, no reading allowed, to think about his alleged lie to a judge for seven hours. The man wasn't found to be in contempt or otherwise guilty of anything, but to avoid further trouble, he's complying. In an article in the Detroit News, Judge "Friedman said he has inherent authority to administer justice that is not spelled out in any specific statute."

Of course, officials in our government need special abilities and rights to do their jobs. But it's Judge Friedman's type of thinking that has lead the Administration to profess that it isn't beholden to FISA laws because of the good intentions of the President. A Congressional news email that I get every morning asked the question, 'Do the Democrats need to form a platform like the Republicans' 1994 Contract with America in order to win in 2006?' If they do, they would be wise to re-state the fact that officials aren't to grant themselves rights which were never prohibited, rather, they only have the rights which are explicitly stated.

As an aside, if a judge does have inherent authority to 'administer justice' shouldn't it still be incumbent upon him to prove his allegation (that someone lied to them, for instance)? Some sort of written document, along with proof of the need for justice, should be produced. As an aside to an aside, does an inherent authority to administer justice also give Friedman the right to dress in green and yellow tights and beat up bad guys during his off time?