Last week the boards went up around the Pioneer Courthouse. Or is it the Pioneer Post Office? Which name you use depends on which function is more important to you. To the lawyers and judges, it's the Pioneer Courthouse because it's where the federal 9th Circuit appellate judges sit and have offices. To the rest of town, it's the Pioneer Post Office because it's where we go -- oops, went -- to buy stamps and mail parcels, until the General Services Administration decided that the Pioneer whatever-it-is needs secure underground parking for the safety of the judges. The GSA stared down Commissioner Francesconi, and the city blinked; now there's a hole in the foundation, soon to be a garage door.
If you're not a lawyer or a relative, you probably can't name even one of the Portland-based 9th Circuit judges. If you're a lawyer who doesn't do trials, you might be able to name them, but not recognize them on the street. (And when the garage is finished they won't be on the street, so it doesn't matter.)
None of the judges confessed to wanting private parking. Congressman Wu took the public hit for the GSA blowing the hole in the building and running a driveway into the basement, and kicking out the post office, but my friend the Knower of All Things reports that he agreed to stand up for the judges. so that they wouldn't be blamed for the destruction.
Am I the only one who sees the irony in this? Wu has to run for office every two years, and his seat is far from safe: his district is about evenly balanced between Dems and Reps. The federal judges have lifetime tenure and can't lose their jobs. So what is the point of giving judges lifetime tenure if they're too scared to say what they want and need a congressman to do it for them?