[mkjessup]

I see no indication that a Governor Fred Thompson of Mass. would have picked a different person to be a judge. We can’t know of course since Fred has never appointed a conservative judge, OR a liberal judge, though he DID vote for some pretty liberal Clinton appointees while he was in the senate. I wouldn’t hold Fred accountable for the liberals he voted yes on, although by the logic here I guess I should.
Yeah, Fred’s shepharding of Justice Roberts through confirmation in the Senate was a disaster.
/sarcasm/

Chief Justice John Roberts has nothing to do with what CharlesWayneCT stated, which was that when Thompson was a SENATOR, he voted in favor of more than a few liberal Clinton appointees.

And I might add, that during the time Thompson was serving in the Senate as a Senator (and not as a shephard, lol) he saw nothing wrong with cutting Bill Clinton some slack by throwing procedural roadblocks into the way when it came to supporting the House impeachment managers in '98. Nobody calling themselves a conservative should have been cutting Clinton slack for ANYTHING.

[CharlesWayneCT]

Thanks for the ping. Just to make it clear, MY position is that I don’t fault Fred Thompson for those votes, or hold him responsible for anything those judges did (I would if there was specific evidence that was presented to the senators of something wrong with the judge that they ignored in voting for them).

Fred did a good job with Roberts, but that really wasn’t about picking a judge, it was about working the Senate. On the other hand, Alito made it through without Fred’s help, so it’s not like Fred is personally responsible for Justice Roberts.