[Cicero]

From Redstate, 2007:

Romney, despite his opposition to same-sex marriage, in May selected for a district court judgeship Stephen S. Abany, a former board member of the Massachusetts Lesbian and Gay Bar Association who organized the group’s opposition to a 1999 bill to outlaw same-sex marriage. Just two days before the nomination, Romney was lamenting the liberal tilt of the state’s bench, telling Fox News that ‘’our courts have a record here in Massachusetts, don’t they, of being a little blue and being Kerry-like.”

Talk about doing one thing and saying another.

Troubling Part #2

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Another Romney choice for the bench is Marianne C. Hinkle, a registered Democrat who worked as an aide to Governor Michael S. Dukakis in the late 1970s and prosecuted John C. Salvi III in the 1994 Brookline abortion clinic shootings. Hinkle, in her application for the bench, describes herself as a longtime active member of Dignity/USA, a group that advocates for expanded gay rights in the Catholic Church and society generally.

Great. Nice moderate choice there, Mitty.

Troubling Part #3

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Romney, asked if he has engaged in any horse-trading with Democratic politicians, said: ‘’So far I have not ever given any weight whatsoever to whether I think someone can make it through the Governor’s Council. I send them individuals who I feel are highly qualified and have the right judicial temperament related to crime and punishment.”

I was about to give him some leniency due to the makeup of the council, but he says it does not matter. He only cared about crime, but not other judicial issues? Wow.

Now, there were some good appointments too, so I want to be fair. But was the Mass court system not already filled with enough liberals? I’m sure there were more “moderate” choices available that would have still made it through.

http://archive.redstate.com/blogs/mikeks/2007/dec/20/romney_appointed_liberal_judges_in_massachusetts

[BarnacleCenturion]

So what’s your point? Should we vote for Obama then?

Would judges like Scalia and Thomas have been confirmed by the Mass legislature?

[muleskinner]

Please tell us the procedure for the appointment of the various Judges in Mass.

Let me help. Whomever the Governor nominates must be approved by Judicial Nominating Commission - established by Dukakis in 1975. When Romney was Governor, the Judicial Nominating Commission was made up of 8 democrats and 1 Republican. He was able to appoint a conservative member of the Federalist Society to chair the JNC to try and block activist judges to a higher position than District Court and Clerk Magistrate level appointees.

Romney was Governor in a state with 12% as registered Republicans. The democrats had majorities in both chambers of the Massachusetts legislature.

In Mass., the democrats stack the deck AND mark the cards.