FC: T.P. Jackson: Preternaturally biased or just one dumb judge?

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

Now that we know what the DC Circuit Court of Appeals thinks about 
blabbermouth Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson, let's take a look at how some 
pundits lionized him as the cool-headed and neutral savior of the computer 
industry just a year ago.

But first, some excerpts from today's oral arguments, taken in part from 
AP's list:
http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20010227/tc/microsoft_judges_2.html
  "We do not have ex parte communications. And the Code certainly says 
that: 'We neither initiate nor consider ex parte or other communications 
concerning a pending case.' I don't discuss cases with my best friends." -- 
Judge David Sentelle (according to AP)
  "You talk about 10 hours of taped interviews with one reporter. And 
there may be four or five more reporters. So we don't even know the extent 
of the statements that were made." -- Judge A. Raymond Randolph
  "Had he not placed that embargo he would have been off that case in a 
minute." -- Judge A. Raymond Randolph
  "There are some who would say that (Jackson's behavior) violates the 
whole oath of office." -- Chief Judge Harry Edwards
  "We don't run off our mouths in a pejorative way... The system would be 
a shambles if all judges did that... Good heavens, is that what judges do? 
They take preferred reporters in?" --Chief Judge Harry Edwards

Now let's go back in time to last spring, around the time of Jackson's 
April 2000 conclusions of law and June 2000 breakup order. These were boom 
times for anti-Microsoft partisans, as we see below...

  "The country is fortunate that there are people like Joel Klein and 
Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson willing to take on this icon of the dot.com 
IPO world, these, you know, rich guys who don't think that there's any 
place in America for regulation... " -- Margaret Carlson, Time magazine 
columnist, CNN Capital Gang, June 10, 2000
  "Most of the plaudits in this case so far have gone to the Justice 
Department's lawyer, David Boies. But the real hero, I think, was Judge 
Jackson." -- David Ignatius, Washington Post columnist, April 5, 2000 column
  "(The ruling) deserves wide credence...  It was carefully grounded in 
antitrust doctrine and the facts presented at trial." --New York Times 
editorial

What a difference a year makes.

-Declan

PS: More on Judge Jackson:
http://www.politechbot.com/cgi-bin/politech.cgi?name=jackson
http://www.politechbot.com/p-00703.html
http://www.politechbot.com/p-01187.html
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,40353,00.html
http://www.wired.com/news/politics/0,1283,41477,00.html 




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