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Special Report
The Meese Effect
Obamacare rulings underline continuing influence of Reagan attorney general.
The ripple that continues to spread across American society, law and politics based on an idea that is as simple as it is revolutionary.
Ronald Reagan wanted to restore the rule of constitutional law to the federal judiciary. It was a view shared by millions of Americans who had overwhelmingly responded to his 1980 presidential campaign in which the new president had carried 44 out of 50 states with a platform calling for the appointment of federal judges
whose judicial philosophy is characterized by the highest regard for protecting the rights of law-abiding citizens, and is consistent with the belief in the decentralization of the federal government and efforts to return decision making power to state and local elected officials.
Yet this was easier said then done. Many an American president has promised to do X, only to have the promise vanish into the policy weeds once elected, with no one inside his administration riding point on the issue, making certain the policy was implemented.
In the history of the American presidency only a handful of presidential aides and Cabinet members have made an influential, long-term impact.
One of that handful is Reagan’s onetime presidential counsel and later attorney general, Edwin Meese III.
Just as most members of the House and Senate have come and gone from Washington over the centuries leaving no visible mark, so too is this true of most White House aides and cabinet members.
The list of those whose work still plays an important role in current affairs is small. The list would include people like Lincoln’s Secretary of State William Seward, who (after Lincoln’s death) would dedicate himself to purchasing Alaska from the Russians — Alaska now the 49th state of the union and, through the presence of everything from oil resources to its formidable ex-governor Sarah Palin — very much a player in modern American life. Harry Truman’s Secretary of State George Marshall’s “Marshall Plan” secured a stabilized and free Western Europe after the devastation of World War II — and provided a significant counterbalance to the Soviets as the Cold War began. John F. Kennedy’s brother Robert is idealized today for his formidable role in the civil rights struggles of the 1960s, the equality issues of African-Americans, long frustrated by Kennedy’s own party, were settled at last by RFK’s direct intervention as both the head of the Justice Department and his brother’s closest adviser. Whatever America’s relationship to China, the fact that it was changed forever by the work of Nixon White House aide and later Secretary of State Henry Kissinger is on the books for keeps — today’s relationship with the Chinese flowing directly from Kissinger’s work in the Nixon terms.
Likewise there have been aides whose long-term influence has been a clear negative, reflecting badly on both themselves and their presidential bosses. Andrew Jackson’s Attorney General Roger Taney — appointed by Jackson as Chief Justice of the United States — is indelibly identified in history with the Dred Scott decision that tried to permanently write slavery into the Constitution. So too is JFK’s Robert McNamara forever identified as the architect of the disastrous Vietnam War.
As the centennial celebration of Reagan’s life refreshes, it is clear that Meese is in the first category with a Seward, Marshall or RFK, America today still being greatly influenced by the work of the 40th president’s longtime aide and one-time attorney general — his friend Ed Meese.
“THE MEESE EFFECT” RIPPLES throughout American society — sometimes more tidal wave than ripple, washing over the legal precincts of American liberalism to devastating consequence.
One need only look at the recent considerable decision overturning ObamaCare by Florida’s Federal Judge Roger Vinson to understand the Meese Effect at work.
Vinson is a “Reagan judge” — appointed in 1983 when Meese was first exercising his influence in his role inside the White House as Counsellor to the President. At Reagan’s direction Meese, not unlike Robert Kennedy to JFK, was more than just an advisor on one subject. But while his views on everything from foreign policy to national security to the economy were heard, as a former legal counsel to then-Governor Reagan and a former deputy district attorney of Alameda County in California, Meese in the White House and at Justice lasered in on the role of the federal judiciary. He understood intimately that whether the legal issue at hand was law enforcement, drugs, family policy, civil rights, or anything else that took on a legal hue, the common thread for many problems was the role of the federal judiciary. Wrote Meese: “The connection between these issues and the courts was not accidental.”
Indeed.
So it was that Meese took the promises of the 1980 Republican platform and the specific instructions of Ronald Reagan to heart. “I wanted judges who would interpret the Constitution, not rewrite it,” Reagan had instructed. It was Meese who saw to it, saying:
About the Author
Jeffrey Lord is a former Reagan White House political director and author. He writes from Pennsylvania at jlpa1@aol.com.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (34) | Leave a comment
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Mike Rogers| 2.8.11 @ 7:11AM
First it was Reagan - the more I read, the more I realized that, far beyond an actor growing into a role, the man was a thinker and writer on a par with our founders.
Lately it has been Meese - who can forget the disgraceful "Meese the Sleaze" chorus from the media while he was in office? Again, the more we learn, the more it is clear that Ed Meese was a special person, carefully chosen by Reagan to fulfill an crucial role in arresting our progressive drift.
Now, thanks to that great leadership, we have judges like Vinson, who truly understand the constitutional limits of government and can express themselves with such devastating and well-researched clarity, that there is no wiggle room for any law-abiding administration to ignore him - immediately putting Obama's lawlessness into the spotlight. Well done, General Meese.
Because of my concern for limiting the Federal government, I have personally become a big fan of the Tenth Amendment Center and their work:
www.tenthamendmentcenter.com
www.nullifynow.com
Alan Brooks| 2.8.11 @ 9:33PM
"the man was a thinker and writer on a par with our founders."
You fatuous cornball.
Alan Brooks| 2.8.11 @ 10:24PM
... all Reagan did was help end the Cold War-- nothing more. And now you worship the Gipper as if he were Christ himself.
"Holy Father Gipper, Full Of Grace."
PCC| 2.8.11 @ 7:46AM
The Meese Effect must also account for Supreme Court Justices O'Connor and Kennedy, n'est pas?
In which case, I'll take Seward's Folly any day.
MoeBlotz| 2.8.11 @ 8:15AM
No,Mzz.O'Connor was selected based on her conservative credentials evident at the time. No man can foresee the prerogative of a woman to change her mind. Justice Kennedy swings to the right of late,with influence from the good guys on the Supreme Court. Mr.Meese made more good choices than bad,just like his boss.
RAMIII| 2.8.11 @ 9:48AM
"No man can foresee the prerogative of a woman to change her mind." Love that line.
Ted| 2.8.11 @ 10:37AM
Kennedy and O'Connor were mistakes. Plain and simple. O'Connor had as much time as a politician in Arizona than she did as a judge....
George S| 2.8.11 @ 11:07AM
Anthony Kennedy was not a mistake. He was the result of a brilliant political maneuver by Ted Kennedy's "Robert Bork's America" speech. His ghost may have the last word when ObamaCare gets to the Supreme Court.
Mimi| 2.8.11 @ 7:54AM
Well Jeffrey Lord : Again you did a terrific job bringing notice to such a HONORABLE man Ed Meese ...a genuine protector of our Constitution.
Boy....does this show elections have consequences ! Who those elected choose to serve !....and choices those make to preserve our LIBERTY! Look at all the time that passed since Reagan chose ED MEESE. Now if the present day SCOTUS finishes the job to preserve our rights...Some of the harm this CREW is doing can be held at bay.
We have today a strong army of YOUNG-GUNS working with great faithfulness to preserve our FREEDOMS...I hear them calling talk radio and yes serving NOW in the Congress. On our plate right now is the Presidential election...May God help our CHOICE!!!
PCC| 2.8.11 @ 8:15AM
I fear my earlier post was unintentionally harsh towards both the author and Mr. Meese.
My intended point was that, in the most critical contemporaneous judicial nominations, i.e., to the Supreme Court, the effects of the O'Connor and Kennedy nominations must be weighed in the balance against the nomination of Scalia.
jd| 2.8.11 @ 8:23AM
I agree with you, Mike. The more I read Reagan's written words, the more impressed I am with his intelligence, deep understanding and thought process ... even though his own son, Ron, doesn't seem to comprehend much beyond his own mind fog.
PCC| 2.8.11 @ 8:40AM
Mt. Rushmore is full. If it weren't, President Reagan would fit in nicely there.
Grzmlyk| 2.8.11 @ 9:30AM
I think they should recarve it and install the likenesses of Wilson, FDR, LBJ and Obama.
It could be renamed "Mt. Social Justice" and act as a stern warning to future aliens who descend on the smoldering rubble of earth, find the one enduring icon there in the black hills, and wonder what the hell happened to this once thriving, vibrant civilization.
Until then, the birds will have the pleasure of dropping the only appropriate commentary for what these people did to this country.
Occam's Tool| 2.8.11 @ 9:47PM
I've been to Rushmore---it's kind of magnificent. And it has the right Roosevelt on it. Don't change it, please G!
Grzmlyk| 2.8.11 @ 9:53AM
Ron Reagan - such a pathetic waste of skin. I guess he suffers from the same thing that many offspring of great men suffer from - a decidedly ungracious resentment that their own utter mediocrity is overshadowed in every regard by their gifted parent.
The guy is an absolutely shamless wastrel, careening around his life like a wayward pinball, searching not for meaning or gravitas or achievement, but new opportunities to scratch the eternal itch of his own resentment.
The wonder is that this shallow non-entity feels a decades-long compulsion to share his inconsequentiality with the world.
Mimi| 2.8.11 @ 11:28AM
Kinda harsh GRZ....my hope is, that someday he may choose LOVE of his father over Politics. For now respect goes a long way but he will need to grow up and become a mature man. SAD to watch! Will his NEW book sell more copies because he dis-honored his father ??? Sounds like its all about MONEY.
Grzmlyk| 2.8.11 @ 11:48AM
Well, he's about 53 years old - I'm not holding my breath that he's going to choose love of his father over politics in this lifetime - and it has nothing to do with politics for him. He has no firmly-held poltical beliefs whatsoever. His liberalism is nothing but a form of rebellion.
I may be harsh, but you seem to come to pretty much the same conclusion I do about him.
The guy is totally without a core - he only emerges every few years to profit from being his father's son. He's never done a damned thing in his life except pity himself - and he's an intellectual lightweight.
He resents his father but has never made a living doing anything but exploiting his father's name. If he weren't trying to make a buck off of a person he detests, I would truly pity him, because I think he's a lost soul.
Ned| 2.8.11 @ 12:26PM
The younger R. Reagan is a perfect emblem of the left... although perhaps an unwitting one because I agree there is no "there" there... as far as Ron is concerned, "It's all about ME!"
Grzmlyk| 2.8.11 @ 1:59PM
Yeah, Ned - that's the perfect way to put it.
If he weren't so obnoxious, he'd be pathetic. In other words, he'd the ideal liberal.
Wonder why MSNBC hasn't given him his own show by now.
Or have they, and he's already come and gone?
Quartermaster| 2.8.11 @ 7:06PM
The adopted son, Michael, however, is far different kettle of fish. Ironic that Ron Jr. was raised by Ronald and Nancy, but Michael was raised by Ron's ex.
skip| 2.8.11 @ 7:12PM
He is on MSNBC, under the stage name Rachel Maddow.
chris haynes| 2.8.11 @ 11:36AM
That Reagan, great sense of humor:
"I want judges who would interpret the Constitution, not rewrite it" Like O'Connor and Kennedy?
Clint| 2.8.11 @ 1:19PM
"Government is like a baby. An alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other."
Ronald Reagan
chris haynes| 2.8.11 @ 1:41PM
Let's not foget all the Republican pr0-abortion judges.
Stewart Eisenhower
Powell Nixon
Brennan Eisenhower
Blackmun Nixon
Stevens Nixon
Berger Nixon
OConnor Reagan
Kennedy Reagan
Souter Bush
Good job.
DaveS| 2.8.11 @ 6:53PM
Eisenhower said his biggest mistake (probably as President) was appointing Brennan.
skip| 2.8.11 @ 7:15PM
That stupid rotten Bush II was so stupid rotten he screwed up the republican standard of picking pro-baby murder judges with his stupid rotten picks of Alito and Roberts.
PattyMor| 2.8.11 @ 3:24PM
This is why the Demons fight so hard to keep conservatives off the bench and to put its liberal wackos on it. If they can't legislate it, then they will declare it so by Judicial jujitsu.
Oldefarte| 2.8.11 @ 4:22PM
The ultimate disaster of 11/2/08 was that this current president obtained the ability to appoint judges, and his two choices a reflection of that disaster. Their lifetime appointments could doom us as a nation, and the possibility of more sppointment surely will [AND DON'T CALL ME SHIRLEY]!!!!!!!
saberzedge| 2.8.11 @ 6:03PM
Mr. Lord:
Every time I read on of your posts I actually learn something. Your brilliant insight and historical perspective are always worth the read and a great learning experience.
Thanks,
Saber
Jim Thunder| 2.8.11 @ 8:08PM
As Attorney General, Ed Meese criticisized consent decrees that allowed the federal judiciary to control day to day and forever various state and local institutions. He sought to have them reviewed and, wherevere appropriate, terminated.
Christian Louboutin | 6.23.11 @ 6:22AM
whose judicial philosophy is characterized by the highest regard for protecting the rights of law-abiding citizens, and is consistent with the belief in the decentralization of the federal government and efforts to return decision making power to state and local elected officials.
Reebok | 8.11.11 @ 4:06AM
is good
العاب | 4.11.12 @ 4:38PM
thank you