Free Republic

The unexpected resignation of Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Conner creates a vacancy that, once filled, can radically shift the court to the right on social issues. And that can ultimately spell disaster for such issues as affirmative action, women’s rights, civil liberties, the death penalty and employees’ rights. O’Conner, the first Supreme Court appointment made by Ronald Reagan, was the court’s swing justice, with her vote helping constitute a 5-4 majority on many important issues. Court watchers had expected ailing Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist to retire after this session – and that’s still a possibility – but he...

A group of the most influential liberal court lobbyists gathered in a high-ceilinged room across the hall from the Senate chamber, within hours of Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's retirement announcement Friday. With grave expressions on their faces, the activists stood somberly behind a lectern and one-by-one delivered impassioned pleas that Justice O'Connor be replaced with a jurist who will protect their particular interests. "This is a watershed moment," said Ralph G. Neas, president of People for the American Way, noting that this fight will be even more momentous than the one for which they have been preparing for...

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) - U.S. District Judge James D. Whittemore has seen fallen preachers, a motorcycle gang leader and a crusading Cuban ballplayer in his courtroom before becoming the latest member of the bench to be drawn into the Terri Schiavo right-to-die case. Whittemore heard arguments Monday on whether to order Schiavo's feeding tube reinserted, hours after Congress rushed through a law to let the parents of the severely brain-damaged woman take their case to federal court. After the parents' attorneys arrived at the Tampa courthouse in middle of the night to file their lawsuit, Whittemore was chosen at random...

SACRAMENTO - Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez renamed veteran Southern California union leader Mike Quevedo Jr., to the California Public Employees Retirement System board Monday, signaling the Legislature's approval for CalPERS' growing activism on corporate governance issues. Nunez called Quevedo, a board member since February 1998, "without question, the best choice," and said the union official would "continue to protect the shareholders by pursuing more corporate accountability and more corporate responsibility." The move ends speculation that Nunez, D-Los Angeles, and Senate President Pro Tem Don Perata, D-Oakland, would replace Quevedo with Sean Harrigan, a veteran labor who led the board for...

SACRAMENTO -- More than 400 people gathered Thursday to watch former San Joaquin County jurist Connie Callahan ascend to the post of federal judge, less than eight months after she was nominated to the position. A host of San Joaquin County Superior Court judges, attorneys and court staffers joined Callahan's close friends and family Thursday as the diminutive legal star took her place on what is widely considered the most controversial court in the nation. "Connie Callahan will make her decisions based upon the law regardless of controversy or what the public opinion will be," said Morrison England, judge of...

<p>Countering charges that retired U.S. Rep. Esteban Torres was treated like "a migrant worker," Gov. Gray Davis reversed himself and reappointed Torres to the state Transportation Commission, a spokesman said Thursday.</p> <p>The East Los Angeles Democrat said he was "incensed" when the governor's aides asked him to step down from the panel and become a trustee of the California State University system or a member of the State Board of Education.</p>

<p>SACRAMENTO - Two weeks after switching sides and endorsing Republican Bill Simon for governor, a prominent law enforcement leader has been kicked off a statewide public safety commission by Gov. Gray Davis.</p> <p>The move marked the culmination of months of political maneuvering that included a vitriolic fax from the Democratic governor's chief campaign consultant.</p>