Legal News

More McCain on Law: Taking on Federal Judges

By Dan Slater

For Barack Obama, “nobody quite fits the bill except for an elite group of activist judges, lawyers and law professors who think they know wisdom when they see it — and they see it only in each other.” — Senator McCain, in speech at Wake Forest University

We don’t know if Senator McCain (pictured, in more youthful days) reads the Law Blog, but last night, when he delivered a speech at Wake Forest University on his judicial philosophy, the Republican presidential candidate seemed acutely aware of criticism over his perceived wishy-washy approach to hot-button legal issues.

“With a presumption that would have amazed the framers of our Constitution, and legal reasoning that would have mystified them, federal judges today issue rulings and opinions on policy questions that should be decided democratically,” said McCain, in what appears to us to be a clear embrace of state’s rights and a jurisprudence of restraint. “Assured of lifetime tenures, these judges show little regard for the authority of the president, the Congress and the states. They display even less interest in the will of the people.” (For reports on McCain’s speech, here are stories from the NYT, the WSJ and the WaPo.)

According to the reports, McCain said that Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito “would serve as the model for my own nominees, if that responsibility falls to me . . . . My nominees will understand that there are clear limits to the scope of judicial power, and clear limits to the scope of federal power.”

Later in the day, McCain announced the formation of a high-powered Justice Advisory Committee to counsel him on judicial appointments if he wins the presidency. The group will reportedly be chaired by Gibson Dunn partner and former solicitor general Theodore B. Olson and the Republican Senator from Kansas, Sam Brownback, and will include Princeton professor Robert George and Rachel Brand, the former assistant AG for the Office of Legal Policy.

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on May 07, 2008 (boomark / email).