Judicious Judges

In his perceptive editorial ("The Roberts Effect," March 20), Terry Eastland noted that Chief Justice John Roberts "came from a court--the D.C. Circuit--where the chief judge urged colleagues to make serious efforts to find a broadly acceptable resolution." True, and the current chief judge, Douglas Ginsburg, deserves credit for encouraging judges to find broadly acceptable resolutions and to concur without separate opinions in unanimous decisions wherever possible. This has resulted in a clear body of jurisprudence on a wide range of subjects.

But from my conversations with D.C. Circuit judges active and retired, appointed by presidents of both parties, I gather that the originator of this approach was Judge Harry Edwards, who served as chief judge from 1994 to 2001, about whom other judges continue to speak with glowing respect. And I gather that Chief Judge Ginsburg is happy to credit his predecessor for his work in forging unanimity.

Chief Judge Edwards was appointed to the bench by President Carter. In a time when political commentators of all stripes are inclined to see judges as (political) party animals, I think Chief Judge Edwards deserves credit in the pages of The Weekly Standard for his contribution to judicial fairness and excellence.

Michael Barone
Washington, D.C.

Loopy Adams

In "Doctor Atomic" (March 20), Kelly Jane Torrance writes that "John Adams has made a career of creating art from recent events." In point of fact, the people who created art from recent events, if indeed it be art, are his librettists: Alice Goodman for Nixon in China and The Death of Klinghoffer and Peter Sellars for Doctor Atomic. What Adams did was to supply the music to accompany their words (in the case of Nixon in China, stupefyingly boring music). Even an experienced opera-goer would have difficulty identifying the emotions supposedly conveyed by Adams's music if he didn't know the words. In fact, he would have difficulty even if he did know the words.

Torrance writes that "John Adams should be given credit for forging the way to a truly American opera tradition." But there are already any number of truly American operas. One of them is called Porgy and Bess, libretto by DuBose Heyward and Ira Gershwin, music by a composer named George Gershwin.

Jerome S. Shipman
Potomac, Md.

Kelly Jane Torrance responds: Porgy and Bess is indeed perhaps the most famous of American operas. I certainly didn't mean to imply no good operas have been created in this country, but there aren't many that have clearly landed in the permanent repertoire. The genre is still young here; Adams is showing the way to what could become a more mature tradition.

I believe that one can just as well make art from a subject by creating music as well as by creating words. And Adams isn't stuck in a libretto when he writes; he drops any part of it that doesn't fit his vision. He also examines original source material. Indeed, he's said that the first musical inspiration for Doctor Atomic hit him when he read a 1945 pamphlet on atomic energy. Programme music--instrumental music depicting a scene--has a long history. Shipman may not enjoy the results, but Adams's music is art inspired by life.

Big Daddy

With all due respect to Bosnia's Mustafa Ceric, Iraq's Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, and other like-minded Muslim clerics, Gitmo's "Pimp Daddy," as described by Thomas Joscelyn in "It's Hard Out Here for an Iraqi" (March 27), is by far the most refreshing and uplifting voice of moderate Islam this American has heard since 9/11. Big gifts can indeed come with--er, in--small packages.

Paul Beach
Eagan, Minn.