Discarding Despotism

In George Will’s column about Chief Justice John Roberts’s new report, we are briefly reminded of how much has changed during the Putin years:

Roberts’s report recounts accompanying a Russian judge walking among Arlington National Cemetery’s white headstones, at one of which the Russian placed a wreath honoring Chief Justice William Rehnquist, who had lent moral support when, during the transition from communism, Russia’s legislature was impeding judicial reforms. “When foreign nations discard despotism and undertake to reform their judicial systems,” Roberts wrote, “they look to the United States judiciary as the model for securing the rule of law.” The problem, Roberts believes, is that we are not paying enough to acquire judicial competence commensurate with the importance of courts in our system.

It is hard to imagine a similar event today. In other news, Paul Goble blogs about the possible closure of 90% of Moscow’s law schools, as the state applies more stringent accreditation requirements…