There are some things on which you can't put a price tag. It is too bad the future of our children ain't one of them.
Back on March 23, 2006, I posted my first piece on "Room 8", and said, in part:
"today's decision by the Appellate Division, 1st Department, in the CFE case, together with the impending attempts to convert Roe v. Wade into an empty shell, highlight the problems with "merit selection". Those who control the Executive Branch determine who has the "merit". The First Department's appointed Appellate Division largely consists of upstate Republican hacks imported from the vicintiy of the Cheese Museum. In many ways, the byproducts (AKA our local judicial bench) produced by our own local political culture (which is, at least, more liberal and more racially diverse) look far better in comparison."
Yesterday, this assertion was upheld on appeal. For the benefit of those in need of further enlightenment, I am providing this handy comparison chart:
NY County Supreme Justice Leland DeGrasse
Chosen by: Denny Farrell
Estimate of CFE Compliance: $4.7 billion
Court of Appeals Judge Eugene Pigott, Jr.
Chosen by: “Merit Selection”
Estimate of CFE Compliance: $1.93 billion
The only thing of lasting value to the public ever produced by a member of the Court's Majority: Ben Smith.
The Cost of "Reform" for the City of New York: $2.77 billion