Does it matter that a black judge leads America’s secret court?
OPINION - Should we care about Judge Walton? Or should we be proud of him?...
‘A parallel Supreme Court’
As the New York Times reported, a court that was once limited to signing off on wiretaps has become a “parallel Supreme Court” with the ultimate authority on intelligence issues — not merely terrorism but cyber attacks, espionage and nuclear proliferation. FISC has even created an exception to the Fourth Amendment, which requires a warrant for searches and seizures. Civil liberties groups are in an uproar, as they should be.
Last month, Judge Walton said the court would not stand in the way of a lawsuit by the Electronic Frontier Foundation seeking release of a FISC opinion under the Freedom of Information Act.
Walton has been known as a “tough on crime” type, but fair, perhaps even with a social conscience on issues such as drugs and alternatives to prison for drug offenders. After all, as assistant drug czar under President George H. W. Bush, he advocated for social programs—such as education, jobs and housing— to fight poverty and drug abuse.
Walton has worked with youth and served as a Big Brother. He had joined the legal profession to “make an impact on the quality of life for people of color in this country,” and his career was shaped by an experience of being the target of racial profiling by the police in the early 1960s. But he was also on the other side of the law on a few occasions for offenses he was not falsely accused of committing.
A former public defender, Judge Walton has spoken out on law enforcement abuses. However, he seems to dismiss concerns that the executive branch has expanded its power under President Obama.
Another Clarence Thomas?
All of this begs the question: Should we care about Judge Walton? Or should we be proud of him?
Certainly, one can look at Judge Walton’s career—or the legacy of any prominent African-American— and note his considerable accomplishments. He is a leader who rose to the top in his profession. And yet, some in our community forget from whence they came after they have climbed that ladder of success. They lose touch and community perspective.
Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas is one person who comes to mind. Thomas has so much power on the nation’s high court—occupying the seat of Thurgood Marshall, a man whose shoes he will never fill— but if only he used that influence to help the powerless, rather than to validate the powerful.
A beneficiary of affirmative action and the civil rights movement, Thomas has opted to dismantle that legacy, even participating in the destruction of the Voting Rights Act.
Meanwhile, for all of his virtues, President Obama has presided over an impressive domestic spying operation, however modest he claims these encroachments are. Presidents Bush and Obama have used the NSA and have invoked 9/11 to explain away the use of surveillance on Americans. However, Obama has enjoyed a relatively free ride compared to his predecessor on this issue.
As a former constitutional law professor, civil rights lawyer and community organizer, the president should know better. And as a victim of racial profiling, Judge Walton should know better as well. Black people are as aware as anyone about the dangers of government surveillance, and possibly more, as the targets of the FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover’s COINTELPRO program.
The federal government destroyed social justice movements and civil rights organizations, and helped bring down their leaders, “preventing the rise of a messiah” such as Martin Luther King and Malcolm X who could galvanize the black community.
So when a black man gets ahead of himself and decides to take on the role of Big Brother, that should give us pause.
Follow David A. Love on Twitter at @davidalove
