We are more casual about qualifying the people we allow to act as advocates in the courtroom than we are about licensing electricians. The trial of a case is a three legged stool: a judge and two advocates. Judges rule on the basis of law, not public opinion, and they should be totally indifferent to pressures of the times. Free speech carries with it some freedom to listen. For better or worse, editing is what editors are for; and editing is selection and choice of material. That editors newspaper or broadcast can and do abuse this power is beyond doubt, but that is no reason to deny the discretion Congress provided. Concepts of justice must have hands and feet or they remain sterile abstractions. The hands and feet we need are efficient means and methods to carry out justice in every case in the shortest possible time and at the lowest possible cost. Calculated risks of abuse are taken in order to preserve higher values. |