Disorder in his court

Boston Herald ^ | 4-20-08 | Jonah Goldberg

[Darren McCarty]

...

Consider Barack Obama. The Democratic front-runner and former lecturer on constitutional law at the University of Chicago has explained his thinking toward judicial appointments thusly: “We need somebody who’s got the heart, the empathy, to recognize what it’s like to be a young teenage mom, the empathy to understand what it’s like to be poor or African-American or gay or disabled or old - and that’s the criteria by which I’ll be selecting my judges.”

When defending his vote against Justice John Roberts’ confirmation, Obama explained that the standard for a justice must be “one’s deepest values, one’s core concerns, one’s broader perspectives on how the world works, and the depth and breadth of one’s empathy.”

Now that is a pure expression of the principle of judicial fiat.

....

Do we want to live in a monarchy or a nation of laws? Is this to be a country where justices serve as a reliable backstop against encroachments upon the constitutional order, or a country where the most undemocratic branch of government serves as the tip of the spear for such intrusions?

Five of the last seven presidents have been Republicans at least nominally committed to appointing conservative justices. Some have fallen short in that department (though not President George W. Bush), which is why the Supreme Court today hangs in the balance. John McCain could conceivably make the mistake of appointing a Souter or a Stevens or some other justice who sees the Constitution as an ink blot. But the key difference between McCain and his Democratic rivals is that he promises not to appoint such justices. Hillary Clinton and Obama consider it among their priorities. That’s at least one reason for saying this is one of the most important elections in a very long time.

[Darren McCarty]

The bottom line for me is this. As of January 2009, the Supreme Court Justices are these ages.

Stevens - Liberal - 88
Ginsburg - Liberal - 75
Scalia - Conservative - 72
Kennedy - Moderate - 72
Breyer - Liberal - 70
Souter - Liberal - 69
Thomas - Conservative - 60
Alito - Conservative - 58
Roberts - Conservative - 53

Now there is a very good chance that the next president will appoint up to 4 SCOTUS justices in his next term. With McCain, we MIGHT have a good pick. With Obama, we'll be wishing back for the days of Ginsburg when we get a bunch of young Saul Cornell types. I can not take that chance. McCain has my vote.

[JRandomFreeper]

Just DAMN. I want to work with those guys. I'd be the baby.

Barely

/johnny/

[marktwain]

The liberals see the court as their way to get everything they want. They actually had it all for a long time, and we have had numerous disastrous decisions.

Now, we finally have a chance to bring sanity to the court.

McCain might just get a conservative justice in, but at least he probably won't appoint a Breyer....

[penowa]

"We need somebody who’s got the heart, the empathy, to recognize what it’s like to be a young teenage mom, the empathy to understand what it’s like to be poor or African-American or gay or disabled or old - and that’s the criteria by which I’ll be selecting my judges." Obama

If you believe he's being honest then he's telling everyone from in front what his criteria for a SC Justice is.

Personally, I thought most presidents put on a blindfold, chose a phone book from a pile, affixed the book to the wall, and then threw darts, but that method would probably have yielded a better result than the Justices we've gotten.

[upchuck]

Simply stated, with Barry as pres, this country will be a disaster.

[muawiyah]

Obama has a misperception of what the USSC rules on if he thinks old, young, gay, black, poor people constitute the greater part of the litigants.

No doubt this guy taught law in Illinois. That's why they don't have a malpractice cap yet so all the doctors moved to Indiana. Even Gary, for so long the armpit of the Western World, has more surgeons than Chicago these days.

One thing nobody in America should want is a bunch of people from Illinois running the government.

[libbylu]

Why 4? Stevens is the only one with any age on him.

[csmusaret]

Senators Leaky and Schmucky won’t let that happen.

[Darren McCarty]

And Schmuck and Leahy would put Breyer clone on there.

[Darren McCarty]

Obama would put him on there.

[Poincare]

This could be labeled a “must read”—the whole article. (Thanks)

[rep-always]

I am with you. That is the most important part of my equation. We might have a chance with McCain but we certainly know for sure we are doomed with the other two, whichever it might be. That is why McCain has my vote.

[VeniVidiVici]

The Democratic front-runner and former lecturer on constitutional law at the University of Chicago has explained his thinking toward judicial appointments thusly: “We need somebody who’s got the heart, the empathy, to recognize what it’s like to be a young teenage mom, the empathy to understand what it’s like to be poor or African-American or gay or disabled or old - and that’s the criteria by which I’ll be selecting my judges.”

Did this goof really have a job teaching constitutional law? Surely someone has by now dug-up some lectures from this moron.

[Sacajaweau]

WE need someone who says our forefathers think killing babies is "a right", thinks Homosexuals have greater "rights" but less responsibilities (killing via Aids)...???

Our forefathers are rolling over in their graves...