the fact that conservadve Republicansnare comfortable with the nominationnmay impel abortion activists and advocatesnof reverse racism to concentratentheir fire, in the absence of inflammablenpublic statements, on any allegedncharacter defects they can find, orninvent, in the life of this retiring NewnEngland bachelor.nWhatever the fate of the Souternnomination, time is on the side ofnRepublican opponents of leftover WarrennCourt judicial activists (ThurgoodnMarshall and Harry Blackmun arenboth in their 80’s and failing). Oncenthe Rehnquist Court has firmly shiftednto the right, after this or the nextnappointment, liberals may be forced tonsave some dubious “achievements” ofnBrennan and the Warren Court bynrecasting endangered old opinions innlegislation: new law is but old precedentnwrit large. The Kennedy-Hawkinsnquota bill is precisely such annattempt to give liberal precedents disfavorednby today’s conservative Court annew lease on life in the law. Should thenCourt’s disastrous and unconstitutionalnruling in Roe v. Wade finally be overturned,nliberals will fight in 50 statenlegislatures to have its provisions reenacted.n(Judicial activism by state courtsnwith state constitutional provisions asnpretexts is also proving increasinglynpopular with the. left.)nThere is a danger that, as liberals arenrediscovering democracy in Congressnand the states, conservatives will forgetnit. Already many conservatives, in thisnage of Republican Presidents, havenabandoned their principled oppositionnto arbitrary executive power. In an eranof Republican judges, judicial activismnon behalf of conservative and libertariannvalues might be tempting to thenright. Pro-business federal judges in thenlate 19th century, after all, perfectednjudicial activism, which was arguablyninvented by the High Federalist JohnnMarshall; liberals merely dusted it oflFnfor the ir own purposes after’ WorldnWar II.nIt would be a bittersweet victory fornjudges like Brennan who have abusednthe judicial power to see their opponentsnadopt their methods, if for differentnends. The great issues of societynshould be decided amid debate andnpublicity by elected representatives,nnot by judges and clerks reading briefs,nor by executive bureaucrats sendingn6/CHRONICLESnsecret memos from one cement labyrinthnto another. In a republic, when anjudge of the highest court resigns, nonone should care. The great questionsnin a republic are: what electoral systemnis the best for our purposes? what donthe different parties offer? who willncontrol the legislative leadership andnthe committees in the legislature? Innthe oligarchic monarchy that is thenpost-FDR United States, more attentionnis paid to the selection of a largelynfunctionless Vice President than to thenelection of a Senate Majority Leader,nand the retirement of an eldedy SupremenCourt Justice, unlike the resignationnin disgrace of a House Speaker,nshakes the country to the roots. Perhapsnone day’ America will be a selfgoverningnrepublic again. If so, WilliamnJ. Brennan, Jr., may turn out tonhave served the country by providingnan exemplary warning to future generationsnof what happens when judges,nbetraying their trust, decide to rewritenthe Constitution they claim to enforce.n— Michael LindnNELSON MANDELA idolized?nAm I the only one who didn’t do anspastic street dance over his arrival innAmerica? Tell him to take “power” innthe wrong African language?nCalifornia Assembly Speaker WillienBrown said being with Mandela wasnlike “being in the presence of God.” Anworshiper along the parade route innNew York called Mandela “our savior.”nA man in Los Angeles said wenshould lay down “palms in his path.”nA few banana peels, maybe.nMandela is a Red. Worse, he is anRed out of a time machine, who seeksnto impose wealth-destroying Marxismnon the only country in Africa whereneveryone has enough to eat.nMandela also endorses killing andntorture by his African National Congressn(ANC). When he was arrested innthe 1960’s, he was carrying ANCnexplosives to commit sabotage. Hisneminence rouge is the bloodthirstynLithuanian Communist Joe Slovo.nAnd at his Hadem extravaganza, Mandelansought to honor the aging PuertonRican Communists who shot up thenU.S. Congress and tried to kill PresidentnTruman.nMandela’s no hero; he’s the politicalnequivalent of 2 Live Crew. Excuse mennnif I sit out this rap.nYes, he spent years in prison — or,nrather, in a comfortable house on thenprison grounds — although his criminalnrecord justified a death sentencenunder South African law. Yes, he wasnideologically steadfast, just like the Bolsheviksnjailed by the tsar. I guess this isnadmirable in some sense, although Incan’t think of why right now. And yes,nhe’s dignified and wears thousanddollarnsuits. But con men always put upna good front.nAlso visiting was Mrs. Winnie Mandela,nwhose gang of thuggish paramours,nthe Mandela United FootballnClub, killed a fourteen-year-old blacknboy in the basement of her Sowetonmansion. They thought he might haventalked to the police.nMrs. Mandela apparently orderedn— and enjoyed — the murder. Certainlynshe has praised the murder ofnblack men and women suspected ofntalking to the police. She wants themntied up with gasoline-filled automobilentires around their necks, and then setnon fire. “With our sticks of matchesnand our necklaces,” she says, “we willnliberate this country.”nMandela calls Communist Cuba then”country that stands head and shouldersnabove the rest” in its “love fornhuman rights and liberty.” Indeed,nCuba is his model. South Africa’sngovernment is already bloated. If Mandelangets his way, it will look like thenReverend Al Sharpton after a barbecue.nWe were supposed to return thenclenched-fist Communist salute tonMandela because he’s the leader of allnSouth African blacks. But that’s anothernlie. He’s chief of the Xhosa tribe,nwhich the ANC represents, along withnthe smaller tribes traditionally dependentnon the Xhosa.nInkatha, led by MangosuthunButhelezi, chief of the Zulus, representsnthe Xhosas’ hereditary enemy. Ifnthe Xhosas come to power, the industriousnZulus know they will be oppressed,nand perhaps even massacred, anpattern all too common in Africa. Thenfighting in Natal Province today representsnthe beginning skirmishes in whatnmay be a war of extermination.nApartheid was a socialist-inspirednscheme to cartelize the labor marketnfor white labor unions. Ironically, onlynreal separateness will work now. Then