Federal Judiciary

Good Luck, Jim Haynes

Posted on February 26, 2008
Every reader of this site ought to send every good wish to Jim Haynes, retiring as Chief Counsel for the Pentagon, as he re-enters private life. This is a man who had served his country literally for decades, and who gave up highly lucrative employment for the last seven years in order to do so...

Keeping Up With the Hayneses (and Cornyn and Rosen)

Posted on February 26, 2008
Former Dallas District Court Judge and Fifth Circuit Nominee Catharina Haynes got a hearing last week at the Senate Judiciary Committee. The Blog "How Appealing" has the details. Meanwhile, former Fourth Circuit Nominee Jim Haynes (no relation to the Fifth Circuit nominee) is leaving his position as General Counsel at the Pentagon...

Playing the Federalist Society Card

Posted on February 23, 2008
Philadelphia Federalist Society chapter president Judd Serotta has a good reply (see 4th letter to the editor) to a Philadelphia Inquirer op-ed which opined that 3rd Circuit nominee Shalom Stone?s ?membership in the ultra-conservative Federalist Society has raised questions...

Chilling Effect on DOJ Attorneys

Posted on February 23, 2008
Today?s Washington Post reports that the DOJ?s Office of Professional Responsibility ?is investigating whether Bush administration lawyers violated professional standards by issuing legal opinions that authorized the CIA to use waterboarding and other harsh interrogation techniques...

To access this complete feed in the blog feed reader login or register for free.

Telecoms Deserve Immunity

Posted on February 22, 2008
This isn't really about judges, but it is about the law, so I thought y'all might want to read my latest take on the telecom immunity issue: http://www.examiner.com/a-1235377~Quin_Hillyer__Telecoms_face_double_ris...

Cox Gets a Vote

Posted on February 20, 2008
SEC Chair Chris Cox, so popular at this site as a potential Supreme Court pick, gets another vote (from columnist Lisa Fabrizio) for Veep: http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=12769 Great column.

No Hearings, No Nothing

Posted on February 19, 2008
One year into the 110th Congress, and there have been only six (6) appeals court confirmations. By contrast, fifteen (15) were confirmed during President Clinton?s final two years. The Hill reports: Sen. Arlen Specter (Pa.), ranking Republican on the Judiciary Committee, asked Leahy in a recent letter to move on a number of the nominees...

Associated Press: "Obama Supports Individual Gun Rights"

Posted on February 16, 2008
That's the Associated Press headline, but let's look at what the article actually says: "At his news conference, he voiced support for the District of Columbia's ban on handguns, which is scheduled to be heard by the Supreme Court next month." Hmm. I guess Associated Press meant that Obama supports the inalienable right of an individual to obediently surrender his handgun to the government...

Protect America Act and Judicial Nominees

Posted on February 15, 2008
My thoughts on the parallels are over at the CFJ blog.

60 Groups Demand Progress on Judicial Nominees

Posted on February 13, 2008
Today, a coalition of about 60 groups—led by the Committee for Justice—delivered a letter to members of the Senate Judiciary Committee expressing deep concern about the lack of progress on judicial nominees, and making it clear that anything short of 15 circuit court nominees reaching the Senate floor in 2007-08 would be remembered as ?historic levels of obstruction...

Another Expose on Milberg Weiss

Posted on February 13, 2008
Y'all might find interesting this post of mine at the AmSpec Blog. It discusses a great series that starts today in the Washington Examiner, re the class action firm Milberg Weiss. And my post favorably mentions one of favorites here at Confirm Them, Chris Cox...

Worthy Nominees

Posted on February 11, 2008
The New York Times has an editorial today about what it calls "Unworthy Nominees." Although critical of a district court nominee, the Times has no criticism for any circuit court nominee. So, how about some hearings for the circuit court nominees? Maybe hearings would reveal grounds for the Times to legitimately oppose more nominees, or maybe hearings would reveal that there are no legitimate grounds for opposition...

Quote of the Day

Posted on February 10, 2008
Anybody who thinks John McCain would nominate Koh or anybody remotely near him on the ideological spectrum is suffering from such an extreme case of McCain derangement syndrome that they?re beyond the help of even modern pharmapsychology. ---Professor Steven Bainbridge (Via Instapundit)

D.C. Gun Rights Case is Heating Up

Posted on February 10, 2008
The upcoming SCOTUS decision in District of Columbia v. Heller just got more interesting. Senator John McCain, as well as Vice President Dick Cheney, have signed onto a friend of the court brief. Together with bipartisan congressional majorities, they're urging SCOTUS to support the DC Circuit decision that struck down the DC handgun ban...

Ditto

Posted on February 08, 2008
What Ed said.

McCain on Judges at CPAC

Posted on February 07, 2008
Look, it is clear I am no fan of John McCain's, especially on judges, where I remain angry at his actions with the Gang of 14 and absolutely furious (as we all should be) with his shameful support for Lindsey Graham's smear job against 4th Circuit nominee Jim Haynes...

McCain and Bush on Judges

Posted on February 07, 2008
In a speech today to CPAC, Mitt Romney graciously bowed out of the presidential race, so as not to undermine the campaign of John McCain against whoever will be the Democratic nominee (Reagan kind of undermined the Ford candidacy in 1976 against Carter, and Romney said the stakes are now too high for such a move)...

McCain, Romney, and the Massachusetts Constitution of 1780

Posted on February 04, 2008
Governor Romney and Senator McCain have new statements up at the Federalist Society website. Here's a piece of McCain's statement (emphasis added): My judicial appointees will understand that the Federal government was intended to have limited scope, and that federal courts must respect the proper role of local and state governments...

The Senate's Man in the White House?

Posted on February 01, 2008
That's the way a McCain presidency might turn out. He'll seek nominees like Scalia and Roberts and Alito, but if that doesn't succeed, then it's anyone's guess: [B]efore the nominations are formally introduced, the way they used to do it, they would kind of run the traps of the? senators, particularly those on the committee and say, "Are these acceptable or unacceptable?" and if they were unacceptable they wouldn?t send them over and if they were acceptable, then they would move forward...

Question for POTUS Candidates

Posted on January 31, 2008
The GOP contenders were asked whether they would have nominated Justice O'Connor. You can watch the video, starting at 05:30: McCain pointed out that he's a fellow Arizonan, and he wasn't as blunt as Romney about O'Connor. Here's what I might have asked as a followup: If you are president when the next Supreme Court vacancy occurs, and you seek advice and input about who would be a good nominee, will you ultimately nominate the person who you believe would do the best job on the Court, or would you instead seek a consensus nominee who you think will best satisfy yourself and fifty or sixty United States senators? It's better to let seats go vacant than to let nominees be dictated by 41 or 51 or 61 senators...

Now That Novak Has Spoken...

Posted on January 31, 2008
Now that Bob Novak has reconfirmed what K-Lo and John Fund reported about McCain's comments re Alito, and Wendy Long independently has re-re-confirmed it, it makes even more stark the similar lapse into his real views that McCain fell into in 1999 when he told the San Fran Examiner that he would NOT favor the overturning of Roe...

McCain Wins Florida

Posted on January 29, 2008
Looks like the GOP nomination is now John McCain's to lose. His Florida victory speech is here at Youtube. I transcribed the part about judges: Government must respect our values because they are the true source of our strength, and enforce the rule of law, which distinguishes successful democracies from failed societies, and is the first defense of freedom...

State of the Union Address Tonight, Florida Primary Tomorrow

Posted on January 28, 2008
Here's a quote from President Bush's State of the Union Address this evening: On matters of justice, we must trust in the wisdom of our founders and empower judges who understand that the Constitution means what it says. I've submitted judicial nominees who will rule by the letter of the law, not the whim of the gavel...

More on McCain and Haynes

Posted on January 28, 2008
For what it's worth, see what I wrote on this at the AmSpec blog. Summary: McCain told Byron York he supported all those nominees not covered either way under the infamous Gang of 14 deal. BS. He actively opposed the superbly qualified, superbly judicious Jim Haynes...

Class-Action Firms Take Beating

Posted on January 28, 2008
The recent Stoneridge case and the high court's refusal to hear the Enron case are only a couple of the reasons I cite in this column at the Washington Examiner in noting that the big class-action plaintiffs' lawyers are taking a well deserved beating...

McCain is Bad News for Judicial Conservatives

Posted on January 28, 2008
John McCain ought to be unacceptable for judicial conservatives. Here is why: More recently, Mr. McCain has told conservatives he would be happy to appoint the likes of Chief Justice John Roberts to the Supreme Court. But he indicated he might draw the line on a Samuel Alito, because "he wore his conservatism on his sleeve...

Some Friday Notes

Posted on January 25, 2008
Hugh Hewitt has a piece at Townhall.com today, titled "Do Conservatives Still Care About The Courts?" Like Hugh, I'm for Romney rather than McCain, though McCain has many fine qualities. The Washington Times quotes McCain's past flip-flops on abortion, so it's kind of odd that McCain accuses Romney of being the candidate of "change...

Some Tuesday Notes

Posted on January 22, 2008
Senator Fred Thompson has withdrawn from the presidential race. Here's his statement. The country and the GOP benefited from his campaign; he offered voters a broader choice, contributed to a higher level of debate, and may well have affected the outcome of the election...

MLK Day

Posted on January 21, 2008
Here's a brief part of Martin Luther King's letter from a Birmingham jail (1963): One who breaks an unjust law must do so openly, lovingly, and with a willingness to accept the penalty. I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for law...

Duncans Withdraw

Posted on January 19, 2008
E. Duncan Getchell has asked that his nomination for the Fourth Circuit be withdrawn. And, Duncan Hunter withdrew today from the GOP presidential race. Speaking of withdrawal, it looks like Senator Fred Thompson did not get a very strong showing of support in the South Carolina primary today, so it will be interesting to see what Senator Thompson's next move will be...

Bloggers, promote your law blog by nominating your blog for inclusion in USLaw.com's Law Blog Directory and RSS Reader. Benefits described.