Once again, on a matter of import, Senator Kennedy has delivered a clear message that draws on the finest traditions of America to show the right path in the battle to protect an independent judiciary.
Our Constitution of 1780, the DNA of which is evident in the later-adopted Constitution for the whole of the United States, also provided for a system of checks and balances through the creation of three co-equal branches of government. As Adams said: "By balancing each of these powers against the other two,. . . the efforts in human nature towards tyranny can alone be checked and restrained, and any degree of freedom preserved."
Kennedy acknowledges that one aspect of "human nature" leads to the emergence of tyranny. It has lived in so many other nations, of so many different human traditions, that it is unthinkable that it cannot happen here. Of course tyranny is possible in the United States.