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Watch as Glenn Beck reveals the "real world" experience of past presidents' cabinets and compares them to Dear Leader's appointees.

He's just getting started. And if this fellow is any indication of the kind of judges we can expect to populate our federal courts, I guarantee you we will spend the next decade or more scratching our heads at the idiotic leftist decisions that will become commonplace on the federal bench. From an editorial in the Washington Times: On Oct. 1, the president nominated Louis Butler, a former Wisconsin Supreme Court justice, to the U.S. District Court of his state's Western District. While Mr. Butler's resume is in order, his appreciation of a judge's proper role seems lacking. Mr. Butler...

Tensions are rising in the Senate over President Obama’s nominees, as Republicans delay picks ranging from a Cabinet post to a U.S. Circuit Court judgeship, and Democrats complain that the disputes are slowing important legislation. Majority Leader Harry Reid , D-Nev., has raised concerns about burning time filing procedural motions to limit debate on a handful of nominees. The most notable, recent example: Obama’s nomination of Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius to be Health and Human Services secretary. Although still expected to win confirmation in a vote scheduled for April 28, Sebelius, a Democrat, has been challenged by Republicans over her...

During the presidential campaign, one of the stickiest rumors surrounding Barack Obama was that if he was elected, America could look forward to having a Muslim in the White House. Now that Obama is president, that rumor may prove correct. President Obama says he’s a Christian, but that doesn’t mean he won’t appoint Muslims to key positions in his administration in return for Muslim support during the election. Muslim groups are fretting that none have been appointed yet, and they want that to change. Polls showed about nine in 10 American Muslims voted for Obama last fall, and they want...

The best way judge a person is by the company he keeps. But President Obama is having trouble keeping any company at all. Recently his Cabinet nominees have been dropping like flies - Sanjay Gupta's withdrawal from the surgeon general slot on Thursday brought the number of botched high-level candidates to seven. "He's having a lot of trouble getting nominations pushed through," says Paul Light, professor of Public Service at NYU's Wagner School. "He's falling behind Bush and Clinton in his number of confirmed candidates in the first 100 days. He can't afford another one." Here, a rogue's gallery at...

A motley crew of Republican and Democratic lawmakers announced Wednesday that they are backing a constitutional amendment requiring special elections be held to fill all Senate vacancies, putting an end to the gubernatorial appointments that have sparked such controversy in recent months. Unusually for a constitutional amendment, the proposal has attracted a bipartisan, bicameral group of supporters. Joining forces at Wednesday's press conference were two Democrats -- Sen. Russ Feingold (Wis.) and House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers (Mich.) -- as well as three Republicans -- Judiciary ranking member Lamar Smith (Texas), Rules ranking member David Dreier (Calif.) and Rep. James...

Before the election, I wrote two posts (here and here) on likely Democratic nominees to the Supreme Court. It seems an appropriate time for an update. For example, despite my earlier predictions, Elliot Spitzer’s odds now seem lower, and President Obama is unlikely to appoint himself. Equally important, we can learn something from the President’s initial appointments to other jobs in the government. In my opinion, they seem pragmatic and focused on objective qualifications (including academic appointments) and tend less than did those of Clinton and Bush 43 towards friends of the President. The appointments to date have also involved...

A Beverly Hills-based company is being examined by a federal grand jury looking into contributions the firm made to political committees formed by New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson. The grand jury apparently is investigating if the contributions that CDR Financial Products made had any impact on a New Mexico government contract that CDR landed from the state. According to reports, CDR received $1.48 million in 2004-05 for work done through the New Mexico Finance Authority. The authority is a government agency that issues bonds and finances building and public works projects throughout New Mexico. CDR was involved in helping put...

Day by day, name by name, President-elect Barack Obama's Cabinet is taking shape, and other top jobs are being filled. Here's a look at who has made the list and who is being talked about for jobs that are still open: Nominations Announced Treasury Secretary: Timothy Geithner, president of Federal Reserve Bank of New York Secretary of State: Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y. Attorney General: Eric Holder, former deputy attorney general Defense Secretary: Robert Gates, a holdover from Bush administration Homeland Security Secretary: Gov. Janet Napolitano, D-Ariz. National Security Adviser: Retired Marine Gen. James Jones Commerce Secretary: Gov. Bill Richardson, D-N.M....

Nothing but trouble comes out of Serbia? Don't you believe it. The country that gave us Gavrilo Princip -- the assassin who started the ball rolling for World War I -- has now redeemed itself by giving us Rod Blagojevich, a governor whose conduct may offer a whole new paradigm in state government financing. Gov. Blagojevich's snuffling around in the muck for the juiciest truffle he could get in exchange for Obama's former Senate seat -- an appointment that he found himself happily holding in the palm of his trotter -- may seem distasteful to the brahmins and puritans among...

Among Liberals and Conservatives there is a certain amount of bafflement at Obama's cabinet appointments, which are being characterized as center-right. On the left there are clashing calls of "Give him a chance" and "What the hell is going on here", and some on the right are displaying idiotic glee at Gates remaining on the job and are even prepared to embrace Hillary Clinton, little understanding what any of it means. They don't get it because they are looking at Obama's appointments from an American political perspective. But Obama is not an American, and his political strategies are not what...

There’s a great invention they have these days in schools: Interim report cards. Intended to provide an opportunity for intervention, interims in our case serve mostly as a heads-up to start saving the money for the usual bribes for A’s, which is all kids seem to get anymore anyway. Seems like, as the bottom falls out of the economy, grades are the only place we need to worry about inflation these days. I mean, who ever heard of a 4.3 on a 4.0 scale? At least in Lake Woebegone, all the children were only above average. In our schools, large...

While Barack Obama introduced the first members of his economic team, a wailing noise could be heard somewhere in the background. That was the sound of complaining liberals, who worry that the president-elect is already surrendering the progressive moment to centrists -- the kind of post-election disappointment with which they are all too familiar. Looking over the names of the new Obama appointees to important positions in the Treasury and the White House, critics on the left have dismissed them as "Clintonite retreads" or worse. According to this gloomy analysis, the incoming administration is poised to repeat the mistakes of...

Ever walk into a Starbucks and see a bunch of people sitting there debating textbook theories and solving all the world’s problems over a mocha java? If so, then you’ve visited a University of Starbucks campus. These are precisely the kind of people who have gotten America into the current economic mess. That’s because, when there’s a serious problem to deal with, their instinct is to theorize and philosophize. If their corduroys were on fire, they would sit there pondering the nature and deeper meaning of the flames. Now, the sophisticated intelligentsia of Team Grande Venti – which means something...

So far, “CHANGE” seems to stand for “Clintonites Have All New Government Employments.” Or something like that. While the Democratic left wing fumes (e.g., “So Far Obama Appointments Suck“), the ironic headline of the week comes from an avid McCain supporter, Senator Joe Lieberman.

What's with Obama's choice of old-time Clinton cronies and recycled Washington insiders to run the transition to his new politics of change? Can't the anti-Washington-insiders and the president-elect find anyone who isn't a Beltway has-been? Judging by the appointments to his transition committee and leaks about possible top staff and Cabinet choices, Obama appears to be practicing the politics of status quo, not the politics of change.

WASHINGTON -- Democratic Sen. Barack Obama has said lobbyists won't run his White House. But senior campaign officials are crafting a policy that would clear the way for lobbyists to nonetheless hold important government roles. People familiar with Sen. Obama's still-evolving hiring policy say registered lobbyists would be banned from senior-level White House jobs. But the policy would allow some lobbyists to take important jobs elsewhere in the administration, should the Illinois senator win election Tuesday. "Our goal is to make sure that people don't leave an industry to come into our administration and then work on issues related to...

It's a hardy perennial in the more philosophically-oriented conservative circles, despite its manifest political infeasibility: the argument that the Seventeenth Amendment should be repealed or should never have been passed. While this argument does have its virtues, I disagree. Regardless of whether it was a good idea at the time, repealing the 17th Amendment today would only weaken the mechanisms that are essential to conservative policies and conservative philosophy. Specifically, restoring to state legislatures the power over the election of Senators would make the Senate less directly accountable to the people and insulate the federal courts even further from public...

Abstract: "The Irony of Populism: The Republican Shift and the Inevitability of American Aristocracy" analyzes the shift in the role of the Supreme Court following the movement towards a democratic Senate which culminated in the Seventeenth Amendment. The Supreme Court's shift is presented as the inevitable result of the system of mixed government that underlies the constitutional order, which orders American Government into democratic, aristocratic, and monarchical parts. While in the original conception of the constitution the Senate was the aristocratic part, the Senate would become part of the democratic part with the Seventeenth Amendment and prior procedural changes. Into...

With respect to states' rights, it should be readily apparent to all that state governments cannot exert any meaningful influence or control over the federal government, judiciary, or any other federal institution. Let us state the problem precisely. At the present time, there are no checks and balances available to the states over federal power or over Congress itself in any area. However, in the history of our country, it was not always this way. In the original design by the Framers of the U.S. Constitution, there was an effective check on Congress through the state legislatures' power to appoint...

ALBANY, Oct. 16 — Back in May, in the private dining room of his Park Avenue office building, Peter S. Kalikow marked the end of his six-year reign as chairman of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority with a heartfelt news conference. It was time to open a new chapter in his life, Mr. Kalikow said, and he would step down as soon as Gov. Eliot Spitzer named a successor. Five months later, Mr. Kalikow, 64, is still on the job. Mr. Spitzer picked a replacement, H. Dale Hemmerdinger, in June. But the State Senate has yet to vote on the nomination....

AUSTIN — Gov. Rick Perry's campaign Web site touts public education as a long-standing "top priority" of his, but the school year began this week with teachers and administrators still wondering who will be the next commissioner of education. That question mark is one among many with nearly 400 expired gubernatorial appointments this year alone to state boards, commissions and universities. Senators — worried that Perry is dodging their constitutional role of confirming most gubernatorial appointments — are crying foul. By Friday, 388 of Perry's appointments will have already expired so far this year, but only one in eight have...

Politics: President Bush was forced to sidestep the nomination process last week and make a significant recess appointment. Reason: Raw politics played by a senator who doesn't like the nominee's policy position. Bush last Wednesday appointed Andrew Biggs as deputy commissioner of the Social Security Administration. If he wanted his man in that post, which is the chief executive's prerogative, he had no other choice but to bypass the confirmation process. Democrat Max Baucus, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, refused to give Biggs a hearing. Biggs' qualifications weren't at issue. With three college degrees, Capitol Hill experience, service on...

Yesterday Arnold Schwarzenegger announced a number of changes in key senior positions in his administrations. A number of them represent great moves, and a few of them are, frankly very disturbing. Let's start with the great news! First and foremost, the Governor's elevation of conservative Dan Dunmoyer to the position of Cabinet Secretary is outstanding news for all of us. Dan is capable, smart and effective. In this key position which acts as a liaison and coordinator between the Governor and all of the Agency heads will be in good hands. Undoubtedly this will be a big relief for former...

The 17th Amendment to the Constitution (1913) established direct election of senators, as well as a means of filling vacant Senate seats. If a vacancy occurs due to a senator's death, resignation, or expulsion, the 17th Amendment allows state legislatures to empower the governor to appoint a replacement to complete the term or to hold office until a special election can take place. There are a few exceptions to this rule. The states of Oregon, Wisconsin and Massachusetts do not allow the governor to appoint, but rather require special elections to fill a vacancy. Oklahoma allows the governor to appoint...

ALBANY, Aug. 18 — Gov. George E. Pataki nominated an upstate Republican on Friday to be his fifth appointee on the seven-member Court of Appeals, moving to assure that his imprint on the state’s highest court will last long into the next governor’s term. The governor appointed Eugene F. Pigott Jr., the presiding justice of the appellate division in Buffalo, to fill the seat that is being vacated by Judge George Bundy Smith, whose 14-year term ends next month. Judge Smith had applied to be reappointed to a second term, but several legal experts said that his prospects were harmed...

Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez appointed four people as alternates to the California Coastal Commission on Friday, a move the Sierra Club and at least one commissioner said he had no authority to do. The appointments came days before the coastal commission was scheduled to cast a final vote on a multimillion golf project in Pebble Beach, a high profile development backed by actor Clint Eastwood, former Major League Baseball Commissioner Peter Ueberroth and retired golfer Arnold Palmer. The Pebble Beach Co. - which hosts the annual fundraiser for the Democratic Party - is pushing a plan to build an 18-hole...

Everyone deserves a break, even the U.S. Senate. But enough already. It's been two months since Samuel Alito was confirmed to the Supreme Court and it's past time Senate Republicans got back to work confirming appeals-court judges. They won't have 55 seats forever... Judges are a key issue for the GOP's base, who could stay home on Election Day rather than turn out for Republicans who shilly-shally about confirming President Bush's nominees. There are 17 vacancies on the appeals bench, including nine pending nominations. They deserve to be filled as soon as possible... An excellent place to start would be...

President Bush is expected to nominate four judges to the federal district court on Wednesday, ending a stalemate that had kept four seats vacant for a year, sources close to the process said last week. By agreement of the White House and New Jersey's two senators, Assistant U.S. Attorney Renee Bumb will be nominated to fill the Camden, N.J., seat vacated by U.S. District Judge Stephen Orlofsky last year, an aide to Sen. Frank Lautenberg says. The other three vacancies, which opened when Chief Judge John Bissell retired and Judges William Bassler and William Walls went on senior status, will...

NOTE: Patrick Leahy referenced "court-packing" in the Judiciary Committee debate today. The scumbag is trying to equate the Constitutional power of the president to appoing judges with the unconstitutional attempt of FDR. The dumbed down Americans among us may fall for it. We won't. ========================================================================= FDR's court-packing fiasco By K. Daniel Glover web posted July 12, 1999 The Supreme Court. The title alone lends an air of distinction to that august legal body and its nine justices who sit in judgment on an entire nation. And indeed, the United States' highest tribunal, more than any other root of America's democratic...

Yah, yah...reports surfaced this week that Cardinal McCarrick will be staying on as archbishop of Washington for a little while longer. Our sources told us back in July it looked like McCarrick's resignation would not be accepted this year. Bottomline: Pope Benedict has bigger fish to fry. Roman Curia reform and naming of new bishops for vacant sees takes priority. We do expect some movement by next summer, contrary to the 2 year timeframe published in the official Washington Archdiocese press release. Our sources tell us that the Vatican letter to McCarrick NEVER mentioned any length of time...yes, that's right...nowhere...

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa announced Monday the hiring of five more key staff members in his administration, including aides for homeland security and the environment. Four of the posts are deputy mayors and the fifth fills the post of director of finance and performance management. Annual salaries for each of the five ranges from $104,000 to $130,000. "I looked for people who brought with them a passion for public service, the highest ethical standards and a commitment to improving the quality of life," Villaraigosa said in a statement. Maurice Suh, a former deputy chief of the public corruption division in the...

The Senate's most self-satisfied senator, Joseph Biden, has established a website asking citizens to join him in pressuring President Bush to pick a liberal Supreme Court nominee so that a contentious confirmation battle can be averted. Well, yes, I'll admit he didn't quite put it that way, but if the Left's currently favorite sycophant, Joe Wilson, is entitled to spurts of "literary flair," why shouldn't the rest of us be as well? Let's look at what Biden actually said because it is revealing of the liberal Democrat mindset toward the judiciary, the Constitution and the will of the people. Biden...

The retirement of Justice O’Connor didn’t ignite the battle for the heart and soul of America, but it sure will kick it into high gear. The impending retirement of Chief Justice Rehnquist will shift that battle into overdrive and the political mental midgets’ pomposity into overload. [Balderdash from a pompous ass, for you sadly educated left-wing-nuts.] The first thing one must ponder on this topic is how the Supreme Court of the United States became the front line of this battle in the first place. According to one of my favorite founders Thomas Jefferson, "A free people claim their rights...

I'm troubled by what I'm hearing from politicians -- on both sides -- concerning the type of person who should replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor and the process that should be followed to determine her replacement. On "Fox News Sunday," Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham said, "Well, replacing a Supreme Court justice is very important, but they come and go. Really what I think is at stake is the reputation of the Senate. Can we have a confirmation process that will hold the Senate up to the world and the nation as a deliberative body made up of...

The Supreme Court decision in the Kelo v. City of New London case and the retirement of Justice Sandra Day O’Connor provide both the reason and opportunity for the president to nominate and Senate Republicans (and fair-minded Democrats, if there are any of them anymore) to confirm a true constitutional constructionist to the Supreme Court. The Kelo case, which has been the subject of numerous editorials in the past week, is possibly one of the most egregious rulings to be handed down by the Supreme Court since the 1857 Dred Scott decision. The court’s decision in that case excised a...

My reaction to Justice Sandra Day O'Connor's retirement was almost as positive as my reaction in 1981 was negative when the Reagan administration announced that they were going to appoint a woman to the Supreme Court. It wouldn't matter if all nine Justices of the Supreme Court were women, if these were the nine best people available. But to decide in advance that you were going to appoint a woman and then look only among women for a nominee was a dangerous gamble with a court that has become dangerous enough otherwise. The recent outrageous Supreme Court decision making anyone's...

The Supreme Court ends its work tomorrow with the highest of drama: an anticipated retirement, a ruling on the constitutionality of government Ten Commandments displays and decisions in other major cases. Traditionally, there is an air of suspense as the justices meet for the final time before breaking for three months. Justices usually wait until then to resolve blockbuster cases. Added to that is the expectation that Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist is presiding over the court for the last time. Chief Justice Rehnquist has thyroid cancer and many court experts believe his retirement is imminent. Long lines have formed...

1. The Constitution gives the President the power, when necessary, of direct appointment to federal Judicial and high Executive branch positions. This is through the recess appointment. 2. The Constitution gives the Senate the power to create their own rules; and apparently rules can be made that subvert other sections of the Constitution. This has been proven in the Senate's subversion, via the filibuster, of their Constitutional requirement to advise and consent on the President's nominees to higher courts and executive branch positions. 3. Based on the President's recess appointment power, this obstructionism of the Senate can be overcome, but...

Once again, the U.S. Senate has trashed the U.S. Constitution. Judicial nominees require "advice and consent" of the U.S. Senate. Had the founders envisioned the need to require a super-majority for consent, they would have specified that requirement, as they did for treaty ratification and for constitutional amendments. While the Constitution does authorize Congress to establish its own rules of procedure, this procedure must fall within requirements set forth within the Constitution. Until 1917, there was no procedure for stopping Senate debate on any issue. The first "cloture" rule required two-thirds of the Senate to stop debate. In 1975, Senator...

This past week, the charlatans in the Senate of the United States managed to once again delay the confirmation of John Bolton as Ambassador to the United Nations. President Bush needs to listen to these imprudent senators and learn from his past mistakes. The Senate led by socialist Democrats and grandstanding Republicans who want attention, is only trying to help the president set the ship of state on a proper course to "follow" for the future. Your Democrat Party firmly believes that the United States needs to stop its aimless and reckless wondering and let others lead the way. The...

Monday May 14th 1787 was the day fixed for the meeting of the deputies in Convention for revising the federal1 system of Government. On that day a small number only had assembled Seven States were not convened till, Friday 25 of May, when the following members appeared to wit: viz. From Massachusetts Rufus King. N. York ...

FAX SENT TO SEVEN RINOS FAX SENT TO THE SEVEN RINOS WHO CAVED IN TO THE MCCAINSThe seven Republicans are John McCain (Arizona), John Warner (Virginia), Mike DeWine (Ohio), Lindsay Graham (South Carolina), Susan Collins (Maine), Olympia Snowe (Maine) and Lincoln Chaffee (Rhode Island).DEAR SENATOR XYZ:WOULD YOU LIKE TO STOP LEGISLATING IN THE SENATE, AND JUST LEAVE ALL THE LAWMAKING TO THE COURTS? LIB JUDGES WOULD.WOULD YOU WANT YOUR DAUGHTER OR GRANDDAUGHTER TAKEN ACROSS STATE LINES IF SHE BECAME PREGNANT - WITHOUT YOUR PERMISSION? LIB JUDGES DO. DO YOU WANT GAY MARRIAGE AND INSTRUCTION, LATE TERM ABORTION, AND PORNOGRAPHY...

Some Democrats say they began the filibusters to force Bush to consult with them and to select nominees with more moderate views. Yet both conservative and liberal senators and activists say that the 10 successful filibusters waged by Democrats have not swayed Bush, and may even have stiffened his resolve, raising the question of whether Democrats overplayed their hand.[. . .]Replacing Rehnquist with a conservative would not change the balance of a court that has voted 5-4 on many hot-button issues. But replacing a moderate or liberal would tilt the court to the right.[. . .]The fight over rules for...

According to senate minority leader Harry Reid and his friends, democrats must block the constitutional appointment process in order to protect you from right-wing radical judges. They say they use the filibuster only in the most extreme situations, to block confirmation of extremely dangerous radicals to the bench for sake of all mankind. Hero’s they are really, at least in their own minds… I can almost see their point too. Who would want some extreme right-wing wacko deciding justice in America? I mean, what if judges actually just stuck to the written law or constitution and applied them to cases...

Instead of a magic wand, Harry Reid uses his mouth. And in place of fighting on the side of good, Harry readily and passionately embraces the dark forces. As Senate Minority leader, Reid has already taken the Democrat art of obstructionism far beyond that of his predecessor Tom Daschle. And in a manner similar to the infamous and ongoing Howie Dean screams, no Republican is safe from his rantings and invented falsehoods. Harry’s once quick smile has turned into a leer and his demeanor has degraded to that of a permanently enraged and deranged man. Yikes! His apprentice training is...

Bill Clinton Left A Few Stinkers - Over 370 Fed Judges That aroma wafting across the United States that could make one very ill if inhaled is not some imaginary pollution invented by the EPA or lib college professors, it is the smell of bad law made by Clinton appointed judges. The idea of 'One Man, One Vote' has been replaced by 'One Judge, One Million Votes' as federal judges continue to strip the power of referendum voters away from the common folk. This week, the Nebraska federal judge Joseph Battalion, who has just negated the wishes of 70 per...

WASHINGTON - With a showdown looming over President Bush's federal court nominees, Democrats and Republicans discussed compromise offers and counteroffers yesterday - some in public, some in private - that many lawmakers hope might defuse a conflict over the use of filibusters. Two leading senators - a Democrat and a Republican - urged their colleagues from the chamber's floor to lower tensions over blocked confirmations by moving ahead on nominees that Democrats oppose but have pledged not to filibuster. A third senator, Democrat Ben Nelson of Nebraska, said he was working privately to round up six of his Democratic colleagues...

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (BP)--Believers must exercise their Christian citizenship beyond the ballot box to halt activist judges and secularist senators who are robbing Americans of their religious liberty, R. Albert Mohler Jr. told a nationwide audience April 24 during “Justice Sunday” at Highview Baptist Church in Louisville, Ky. Mohler, president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, was one of several speakers at the event, which was designed to mobilize Christians to action against judicial filibusters, which Democrat senators have used to block 10 of President Bush’s appellate court nominees. In most of the cases, senators objected to the nominees' pro-life views. The...

The best way to understand the brouhaha over the Republican plan to invoke the constitutional option to prohibit Senate filibusters to thwart judicial nominations is that Democrats are very poor losers, but Republicans are even poorer winners -- so far. The reason we're even talking about a so-called " nuclear option" is that Democrat leaders remain in denial about their consistent drubbing at the ballot box. They won't accept that the public has rejected their message. They are acting like the ornery little brother who hits his older brother, and when big brother merely threatens to hit back, he goes...