Free Republic

J. Harvie Wilkinson, the federal appeals judge from Charlottesville, Va., long has carried a contrarian streak. * * * And last month, receiving the Federalist Society’s Lifetime Service Award at Georgetown University, Judge Wilkinson hinted that the high court he nearly joined should think twice before striking down the symbol of everything contemporary conservatives revile—the health care overhaul President Barack Obama signed into law over near-unanimous Republican opposition. * * * The framers envisioned not only individual rights, but democratic ones that could impose duties upon the individual, he said. “We are neglecting the code of personal responsibility that has...

Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III Richmond, Va., Jun 26, 2009 / 03:23 am (CNA).- The Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in a 6-5 decision on Wednesday upheld Virginia’s partial-birth abortion ban. In his concurring opinion, one judge wrote that the law protects the “weakest” and “most helpless” and condemned the use of the Constitution to justify “dismembering” a partly born child and “crushing” its skull.In its ruling “Richmond Medical Center v. Herring,” the court said the 2003 Virginia law does not unduly burden a woman’s legal right to terminate a pregnancy by more conventional means. It also ruled...

EVALUATING STRICT CONSTRUCTIONISTS. How to Judge by Jeffrey Rosen Post date 11.22.04 | Issue date 11.29.04 [Sandra Day O'Connor said today that she is resigning from the Supreme Court. Last November, TNR published this guide to the possible replacements.] During his postelection press conference, President Bush made it clear that he intends to appoint a reliable "strict constructionist" to replace the ailing Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist if and when he retires. According to administration officials, there are eight candidates on Bush's short list, all of whom fit the bill. Senate Democrats will try to distinguish between conservatives and moderates...

<p>Only a handful of people know if a Supreme Court vacancy will be announced later today. The guessing in Washington is that Chief Justice William Rehnquist is now less likely to retire, given the White House's strongly expressed view that it doesn't want a vacancy. But Justice Sandra Day O'Connor marches to her own drummer, and recent events have led several court observers to speculate she may step down this week.</p>

The judges of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. The 19th-century courthouse that houses the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit sits across from a CVS and a Dress Barn on a desultory stretch of Main Street in Richmond, Va. The entrance -- peeling ''Pull'' sign, metal detector, dim lobby -- is not awe-inspiring. But upstairs in the courtrooms, beneath the pendulous chandeliers and the oil portraits of former jurists, a hush prevails. Whether or not the judges are on the bench, people whisper. It is as if they tacitly accept that the...