Free Republic

The judiciary is becoming an important election issue. John McCain is warning conservatives that control of today's finely balanced Supreme Court depends on his election. Unfortunately, his jurisprudence is likely to be anything but conservative. The idea of a "living Constitution" long has been popular on the political left. Conservatives routinely dismiss such result-oriented justice, denouncing "judicial activism" and proclaiming their fidelity to "original intent." However, many Republicans, like Mr. McCain, are just as result-oriented as their Democratic opponents. They only disagree over the result desired. Judge-made rights are wrong because there is no constitutional warrant behind them. The Constitution...

Gender and race will loom large when Barack Obama or John McCain has a chance to fill a U.S. Supreme Court vacancy. ADVERTISEMENT With only one woman and no Hispanics on the court, the next president will feel pressure -- and perhaps a desire -- to diversify the nine-member court. ``Regardless of who is elected president, there will be strong sentiments in favor of appointing a woman or someone who would reflect other elements of diversity such as an Hispanic or African-American,'' said Theodore Olson, a former U.S. solicitor general who heads McCain's advisory committee on judicial appointments. Six justices...

A Win by McCain Could Push a Split Court to Right

The recent Supreme Court decision of Boumediene v. Bush concerning the habeas corpus rights of enemy combatants held at Guantanamo Naval Base illustrates the need for a president who will nominate jurists that follow the Constitution and not their own political ideology. For the first time, the Court has now extended U.S. constitutional rights to foreign nationals residing outside the country. What’s all the more galling is that the recipients of this right were engaged in killing U.S. and coalition forces in Afghanistan and elsewhere. Now, this same court has agreed to hear the petition of a deported Pakistani national...

(CNSNews.com) - The records of Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Barack Obama (D-Ill.) are very different when it comes to judges and courts. The Republican and Democratic candidates for president are far apart when it comes to judicial philosophy and the votes they cast on major judicial nominations during the 109th and 110th Congresses. McCain wants to appoint judges who hold a constructionist interpretation of the U.S. Constitution, according to his campaign's Web site. "When applying the law, the role of judges is not to impose their own view as to the best policy choices for society but to faithfully...

Obama's Supreme Court by Henry Mark Holzer Last week’s Supreme Court 5-4 decision in Boumediene v. Bush—holding that alien unlawful enemy combatants have a constitutional right to use habeas corpus in American federal courts to challenge their detention—came as no surprise to those of us who have watched the “Living Constitution” virus metastasize since that ideological disease first began to infect the judiciary during the Warren Court era. Those who subscribe to Living Constitution ideology believe that the founding principles of this Nation are passé, that the Declaration of Independence’s ringing endorsement of limited government and individual rights is outdated,...

Conservatives, seizing on the Supreme Court's ruling last week on Guantanamo detainees, want to turn the court into election fodder. I hope they succeed. No issue in this campaign is as simultaneously neglected and important. And the opposite reactions of John McCain and Barack Obama to the decision underscore how much is at stake for the future of the court. Obama hailed the ruling for showing that "a state can't just hold you for any reason without charging you and without giving you any kind of due process — that's the essence of who we are." McCain was initially mild,...

The Senate confirmed three district court nominees today: Mark Davis of Virginia and Stephen Limbaugh and David Kays of Missouri. Sen. McConnell took the opportunity to chastise the Democrats about their obstruction of circuit nominees and to again make good on his pledge to slow down the Senate until the obstruction is eased. From McConnell’s office: Although the Majority fulfilled their commitment from last week to confirm three more District Court nominees today …, Leader McConnell did not feel these actions were sufficient in light of the continued lack of circuit court confirmations. … Therefore, Leader McConnell invoked the two-hour...

Mr. Obama, on the other hand, is a lawyer and has had a long and deep interest in the courts and the law. Cass R. Sunstein, a professor at the University of Chicago Law School and an Obama adviser, said in an interview that because Mr. Obama had taught constitutional law for 10 years at Chicago, “he is immersed in these issues.” “The first thing to know,” Professor Sunstein said, “is that he knows this stuff inside and out, and he has the credentials to be easily appointed to the court himself.” From his remarks in the Senate opposing the...

NEWS RELEASE Second Amendment Foundation 12500 NE Tenth Place  • Bellevue, WA   98005 (425) 454-7012  • FAX (425) 451-3959  • www.saf.org SAF BLASTS BRADY BUNCH OVER EFFORT TO BLOCK PRO-GUN JUDICIAL NOMINEES For Immediate Release:   5/29/2008 BELLEVUE, WA – In their continuing effort to destroy the Bill of Rights, the Brady Campaign has launched a joint effort with the extremist CREDO Action to block confirmation of federal judicial nominees who accept the Second Amendment as protective of a fundamental individual civil right. “If there were ever any question that the zealots at the Brady Campaign are determined to crush individual...

Here's why: 1. Gang of 14. 2. Warren Rudman. 3. McCain said Alito is too conservative. 4. There is absolutely zero logic in thinking that McCain will nominate the type of judge that will overturn his signature bills.

Republican John McCain is castigating Democrat Barack Obama for voting against John Roberts as Supreme Court chief justice. McCain offered an olive branch to the Christian right in a speech about the kind of judges he would nominate planned for Tuesday at Wake Forest University. The far right has been deeply suspicious of McCain, the expected GOP presidential nominee, because he has clashed with its leaders and worked against them on issues like campaign finance reform. McCain promised to appoint judges who, in the mold of Roberts and Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito, are likely to limit the reach of...

WASHINGTON, (AP) -- Republican Sen. Arlen Specter has a suggested question for Wednesday's Democratic presidential debate: Ask the candidates if they support faster confirmation of judicial nominations. Specter said Tuesday he sent letters to Democratic Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, as well as Republican nominee-in-waiting Sen. John McCain posing that question. He shared the letters with ABC News, sponsor of the debate. Specter, the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee, wrote that he wants to take, or "discharge," three appellate court nominations from the committee and bring them straight to the Senate floor for a vote. "I write...

The prospect of overturning Roe v. Wade may be only incentive powerful enough to turn a disillusioned conservative into a motivated McCain voter this November. After the betrayals of the Bush era, many on the Right still point to the ascendance of John Roberts and Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court and proclaim, “It was worth it.” Campaigning across the country, McCain promises conservative audiences, “We’re going to have justices like Roberts and Alito.” And Sen. John Cornyn told the New York Times that judges “are the one issue that cuts across all aspects of the Republican coalition,” saying that...

<p>1. Russians Suspected in Shooting of Kremlin Critic Near D.C.</p> <p>One year ago, Kremlin critic Paul Joyal was gunned down in the driveway of his suburban Maryland home. The case remains unsolved — but some see the hand of Russia in the shooting.</p>

If a President McCain were to nominate a David Souter clone, the right’s netroots would have a collective conniption fit that would make the Miers fight look like pattycake. We might not win, but we’d at least bleed McCain of enough political capital to give even Warren Rudman second thoughts. All of which suggests that threats by conservative pundits like Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter to take their ball and go home if McCain is the nominee make no sense (and I say this as someone who has made similar rumblings in the past). The next President likely will nominate...

At CPAC, Senator John McCain promised: I intend to nominate judges who have proven themselves worthy of our trust that they take as their sole responsibility the enforcement of laws made by the people’s elected representatives, judges of the character and quality of Justices Roberts and Alito, judges who can be relied upon to respect the values of the people whose rights, laws and property they are sworn to defend. This promise was absolutely critical if McCain was to win over conservatives. To be sure, Presidents all too often break campaign promises. Remember George Bush 41’s “read my lips” pledge...

This from J.D. Pendry ... a retired Army Sgt. that you should have as a regular contributor to your e-mail.

For Immediate ReleaseOffice of the Press SecretaryFebruary 9, 2008 President's Radio Address   President's Radio Address  Audio  En Español       In Focus: Judicial Nominees THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. One of the most important jobs of any President is to find good men and women to lead government agencies, preside over our courts, and provide vital services to the American people. So I have nominated talented individuals for these positions. Unfortunately, the Senate is not meeting its responsibility to consider these nominees in a timely manner. More than 180 of my nominees are waiting for confirmation. Some have been waiting for more than...

Republican officials said yesterday that four controversial appeals-court nominees have asked the White House to withdraw their names from Senate consideration. Among them is William "Jim" Haynes II, whom President Bush first nominated to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, on September 29, 2003. -snip- Mr. Haynes is a victim of elite Washington's fickle support for anti-terror measures and South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham's desire for the media spotlight. -snip- Mr. Graham joined Democrats in blocking him to settle a political score. Mr. Haynes is general counsel of the Pentagon, where his transgression in the days following...

It took Nixon to go to China. It took Bill Clinton, a Democrat, to get control of the federal deficit. (Sorry, conservatives, but it’s true.) And it might take Rudy Giuliani to appoint solid Supreme Court Justices.With Fred Thompson out of the race, judicial conservatives are looking for a candidate. John McCain? Three words: Gang of 14. Mike Huckabee? He’ll never be President. Mitt Romney? Ehhhh . . . he might be OK — but I think he comes across to voters as too slick and unprincipled. And there may be a reason for that.But there’s no reason, in my...

Duncan Getchell, President Bush’s choice for a spot on a key appellate court, has withdrawn his nomination after his confirmation by the full Senate seemed to be in peril. Bush nominated Getchell in September for a spot on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, which covers Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina and South Carolina. Getchell was selected to fill one of the four seats traditionally held by Virginia. But the choice came under immediate criticism in Congress since Virginia’s senators, John Warner (R) and Jim Webb (D), did not recommend Getchell to the post. By choosing Getchell, critics...

That’s the verdict rendered in this article. It’s just another example of the case conservatives should be making on Fred’s behalf. Here’s one of the key sections of the article: In short, Thompson holds the same conservative positions of all the other candidates combined, and has none of their flaws. In fact, any close observer of the campaign season would tell you that Thompson has been on the receiving end of barely any substantive attacks on policy issues. This is no coincidence. And it is the reason he has had to bear the brunt of shallow attacks about his demeanor,...

Missouri Supreme Court Judge Stephen Limbaugh Jr. was nominated by President Bush on Thursday to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri. Limbaugh Jr. has served on the Missouri Supreme Court since August 1992. His father, Stephen Limbaugh Sr., is a Senior U.S. District Judge in St. Louis. Limbaugh Jr. has also served on the 32nd Judicial Circuit of Missouri, as a prosecuting attorney in Cape Girardeau County and a partner in a private practice. He is the cousin of prominent radio commentator Rush Limbaugh. Only the president has the authority to formally nominate candidates for federal...

Two days before Thanksgiving the Senate had a 22-second session, a fleeting moment in the life of an occasionally droning body but plenty of time for majority Democrats to keep President Bush from making "recess" appointments. Senators have been taking turns standing sentry duty this week — just to prevent Bush from circumventing the confirmation process by immediately installing people in federal posts while the chamber is in recess. Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., who carried out that less than glamorous task Tuesday, is a relative newcomer, a low-ranking freshman and a senator who lives just minutes from the Capitol; he...

Today the U.S. Supreme Court begins its second full term since President Bush’s appointments of Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice Samuel Alito. Given the complaints made by many on the left and in the press about the Court’s alleged “radical turn to the right” last year, now is a good time to consider how the Court ought to decide its constitutional cases. This question is made all the more urgent by the fact that on Jan. 20, 2009, six of the nine current justices will be over the age of 70, an age at which many people either...

(AP) Rudy Giuliani assured a conservative legal group Friday that if elected president he would appoint federal judges who adhere to their principles. He also praised a judge who declared the capital city's gun ban unconstitutional and ridiculed efforts to eliminate the words "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance. In a speech marking the 25th anniversary of the Federalist Society, Giuliani spelled out a conservative legal agenda in which he cited Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito and Chief Justice John Roberts as models for the judges he would appoint to the federal bench.

In a blistering rebuke, President Bush said Thursday that the Senate's procedure for approving federal judges has become too political and discourages qualified nominees from being considered. "The Senate is no longer asking the right question, whether a nominee is someone who will uphold our Constitution and laws," Bush said in excerpts of a speech he was to deliver Thursday night to The Federalist Society, a conservative group that emphasizes legal matters. "Instead, nominees are asked to guarantee specific outcomes of cases that might come before the court. If they refuse — as they should — they often find their...

I was listening to a talk show and the sub host (Barret Duke) said that Rudy Giuliani said on Hannity and Colmes that pro-choice/pro-life is not a critical factor, but what's important to him (Rudy) is to pick a nominee that is very intelligent, very honest and good lawyer on the court, BUT.......... GET THIS!!: Rudy said that Roberts fits that category the SAME WAY that Ruth Ginzburg fits that category. This is INCONSISTENT. How do we know what we will get when he talks like that?

The judicial confirmation process is "broken" and needs an overhaul, a federal appeals court judge whose confirmation process lasted three years said Thursday. Senate confirmation of a president's judicial nominees should be rigorous but should not be allowed to drag on for years, said Brett Kavanaugh, a member of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Kavanaugh was a guest speaker Thursday at the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service. President Bush nominated Kavanaugh was appointed to the federal bench in July 2003 but Kavanaugh was not confirmed until May 2006. "It's a problem...

In a sharp rebuke to the Democratic base, the Senate on Wednesday confirmed Leslie Southwick to a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit after 12 Democrats, together with one Independent, shrugged off the strong opposition of their party’s leaders and joined a united Republican Conference. The vote buoyed a Senate GOP conference that has been dogged by scandals and put on the defensive over Iraq, and it marked the first of two GOP victories on the day. Shortly after Southwick was confirmed, Republicans blocked Democratic-led efforts to help children of undocumented immigrants attend college, likely...

10/24/2007 By LAURIE KELLMAN / Associated Press The Senate on Wednesday confirmed Judge Leslie Southwick to the federal appeals court in New Orleans after Republicans overpowered objections by Democrats who said he wasn't sensitive enough to the region's history of race relations. The 59-38 vote, a rare Republican victory in a Democratic-led Senate, was sealed after the nomination survived its main obstacle, a test tally moments earlier in which a dozen Democrats sided with Republicans to thwart a filibuster. That left Democrats without the power to block Southwick's confirmation, even after a heated debate that raised the pain of civil...

WASHINGTON, (AP) -- The Senate on Wednesday confirmed Judge Leslie Southwick to the federal appeals court in Mississippi despite complaints by some Democrats that decisions he supported were racially insensitive and inappropriate for a region still shadowed by civil rights struggles. The 59-38 vote on confirmation was sealed after the nomination survived its main obstacle, a test tally moments earlier. Majority Democrats pressured by labor unions and other constituencies did not have the votes to filibuster, or block, Southwick's confirmation. The Congressional Black Caucus warned that there would be consequences for Democrats at the ballot box. "We regard this as...

Latino advocacy groups are pleased; DNC stays mum WASHINGTON — President Bush has had more Hispanics confirmed for federal judgeships than any president in U.S. history, a record that earns him praise from Hispanic organizations but is downplayed by the Democratic National Committee.

BEFORE BEING nominated by President Bush to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit, Leslie H. Southwick served for almost 12 years on the Mississippi Court of Appeals, where he participated in thousands of cases spanning the gamut of civil and criminal law. A panel of the American Bar Association unanimously found Judge Southwick to be "well qualified" for the promotion, its highest ranking. Yet congressional opponents have latched on to two opinions that Mr. Southwick joined, but did not write, to argue that he is unfit for the federal appeals post. ... Adding to the discomfort of...

Two 50-something men who wear black robes, rarely speak in public and remain unrecognizable to most Americans are turning up in campaign playbooks from Oregon to Maine. U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice Samuel Alito may well become the bogeymen of 2008. Their decisions in the last term on abortion, school desegregation and pay equity angered pillars of the Democratic constituency, already prompting Senate campaigns and issue advocates to invoke the Supreme Court in fundraising pitches and attacks on Republican incumbents. “When you are dealing with hypotheticals, when you talk about civil rights, privacy, Roe v....

Most of the shortlists for the Supreme Court being bandied about (including ours) are predicated on the assumption that Bush is most interested in appointing a radical right-wing justice in the mold of Antonin Scalia or Clarence Thomas. That idea is supported by the names most often mentioned by the White House and people close to it. But what if the president decided to look instead for a conservative in the traditional sense of the word, a distinguished jurist who believes in moderation, judicial restraint, and deference to Congress? A shortlist that emphasized those qualities might include the following:

Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) surprised both liberal and conservative activists Thursday by voting with Republicans on the Judiciary Committee to move a controversial conservative judicial nominee to the Senate floor. Feinstein voted with nine Republicans to pass Leslie Southwick, President Bush’s nominee to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, despite the objections of Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and members of the Democratic leadership who sit on the panel. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Sen. Charles Schumer (N.Y.), a member of the Democratic leadership team, both voted against Southwick. Feinstein’s support for Southwick is surprising because she...

The Senate Judiciary Committee on a 10-9 vote approved former Mississippi State Judge Leslie Southwick to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit. The dramatic cliff-hanger of a vote on Southwick came after Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., who had deferred to Mississippi senators on setting a vote on the controversial nomination, suddenly added the Mississippi nominee to today's schedule. Democrats, under pressure from interest groups, were largely opposed to Southwick because of some controversial opinions had had concurred with involving racial and gay issues. But Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., decided to vote for Southwick, joining...

Dianne Feinstein just announced that she will vote for Judge Southwick in committee, and – after some whining by Sens. Durbin and Kennedy – the nominee was reported out 10-9 with a positive recommendation.

You’ve probably never heard of Rebecca Nurse, but bear with me for a moment. Nurse arrived in Salem, Massachusetts in 1640. There, despite being known as a woman of virtue and piety, she was accused of being a witch. On July 19, 1692, she was hanged. Now almost 315 years to the day later, one of Nurse’s ancestors is suffering through a witch hunt of a more modern variety. I’m talking about Judge Leslie Southwick, whose nomination to the long-standing vacancy on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit is being thwarted by Senate Democrats. Sadly, Judge...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Senate Democrats on Wednesday threatened to block Republicans from forcing a vote on a Mississippi judge in a new fight in the well-trod arena of judicial confirmations. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said he would move to kill the Republicans' symbolic resolution calling for a vote of the full Senate on the appeals court nomination of Leslie Southwick of Mississippi. The motion could come as early as Thursday. Democratic leaders wanted to wait to see if the nomination survived a Thursday session of the Senate Judiciary Committee, several officials said. Republicans said any vote on Southwick's...

Schumer says No More Judges for Bush By Peter J. Smith WASHINGTON, D.C., July 30, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - President Bush can expect to make no more Supreme Court judicial appointments "except in extraordinary circumstances" according to Senate Judiciary Chairman Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY). "We should reverse the presumption of confirmation. The Supreme Court is dangerously out of balance," Schumer said Friday at the American Constitution Society convention in Washington. "We cannot afford to see Justice Stevens replaced by another Roberts, or Justice Ginsburg by another Alito." Schumer and other Democrats fear that another justice like Justice Alito could presage the...

The Upcoming Presidential Election Should Be All About The Supreme Court for Social Conservatives Big Trouble We are in big trouble. Whether you consider the historical cycle of presidential elections; the results of the 2006 election; the mood of the country; or the unfavorable ratings of the President, the odds are that conservatives will have our heads handed to us on a silver platter in 2008. Unless our movement gets its act together quickly and gets on the same page, one thing is for sure-- we are in big trouble. No Perfect Candidate Many conservatives are frustrated by the field...

Democratic Sen. Charles E. Schumer said Friday that the Senate should not confirm another U.S. Supreme Court nominee under President Bush "except in extraordinary circumstances.” "We should reverse the presumption of confirmation,” Schumer told the American Constitution Society convention in Washington, reported The Politico. "The Supreme Court is dangerously out of balance. We cannot afford to see Justice Stevens replaced by another Roberts, or Justice Ginsburg by another Alito.”...........................

New York Sen. Charles E. Schumer, a powerful member of the Democratic leadership, said Friday the Senate should not confirm another U.S. Supreme Court nominee under President Bush “except in extraordinary circumstances.” “We should reverse the presumption of confirmation,” Schumer told the American Constitution Society convention in Washington. “The Supreme Court is dangerously out of balance. We cannot afford to see Justice Stevens replaced by another Roberts, or Justice Ginsburg by another Alito.”

New York Sen. Charles E. Schumer, a powerful member of the Democratic leadership, said Friday the Senate should not confirm another U.S. Supreme Court nominee under President Bush “except in extraordinary circumstances.” “We should reverse the presumption of confirmation,” Schumer told the American Constitution Society convention in Washington. “The Supreme Court is dangerously out of balance. We cannot afford to see Justice Stevens replaced by another Roberts, or Justice Ginsburg by another Alito.” Schumer’s assertion comes as Democrats and liberal advocacy groups are increasingly complaining that the Supreme Court with Bush’s nominees – Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice...

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) declared that his decision not to lead a successful filibuster in January 2006 of Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito's nomination was one of his "greatest failings" as a senator. In an address to liberal legal scholars of the American Constitution Society, Schumer said that after watching the work of the newly constructed "Roberts court" the past 18 months, he would block any future Supreme Court nominee of President Bush's should a vacancy arise between now and January 2009. Schumer's address covered his views on the confirmation processes for Alito and Chief Justice John Roberts. Conservatives have...

Democrat charges U.S. justices "duped" Senate By Thomas Ferraro1 hour, 17 minutes ago U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts and Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito "duped" the U.S. Senate into confirming them, a top Democratic lawmaker charged on Friday, days after a key Republican questioned if they had lived up to their promises. Sen. Charles Schumer of New York, a member of the Judiciary Committee that held hearings on the two, said they staked out moderate positions in congressional testimony but became part of a conservative bloc that issued restrictive rulings on issues from free speech to civil rights. Schumer, in...

New York Sen. Charles E. Schumer, a powerful member of the Democratic leadership, said Friday the Senate should not confirm another U.S. Supreme Court nominee under President Bush “except in extraordinary circumstances.” “We should reverse the presumption of confirmation,” Schumer told the American Constitution Society convention in Washington. “The Supreme Court is dangerously out of balance. We cannot afford to see Justice Stevens replaced by another Roberts, or Justice Ginsburg by another Alito.” Schumer said there were four lessons to be learned from Alito and Roberts: Confirmation hearings are meaningless, a nominee’s record should be weighed more heavily than rhetoric,...