Prime-Time Justice
The Law & Order litmus test.
President Bush has chosen a star of Law & Order, former GOP senator Fred Thompson (a.k.a. D.A. Arthur Branch), to chaperone his Supreme Court nominee through the inevitable media maelstrom. So what are Thompson’s TV persona’s positions on the legal issues of the day?
AFFIRMATIVE ACTION: “Thank you,Sandra Day, for deciding not to decide . . . [Quoting Frederick Douglass] ‘Give the black man a chance to stand on his own legs. Let him alone. Your interference is doing him positive injury.’ ”
CRIMINALS’ RIGHTS: “As far as I’m concerned, we’ve got more cuffs on the cops than the criminals.”
PUBLIC-INTEREST LAWYERS: “Who is that stupid SOB, anyway? . . . What career? He works for Legal Aid, for crying out loud.”
SURROGATE MOTHERS: “We used to have a word for women like that.”
—Boris Kachka