Federal Judiciary

Two Circuit Court Nominees Confirmed Including One Nominated by Clinton

Posted on June 24, 2008
Congratulations to Raymond Kethledge who was confirmed to the Sixth Circuit today. Helene White was also confirmed today, and perhaps President Bush will now appoint her to the Sixth Circuit. Bush's decision to nominate her was an extremely generous act of bipartisanship, on a par with President Bush's nomination of Roger Gregory to the Fourth Circuit...

Open Thread!

Posted on June 22, 2008
Sorry I haven't been starting open threads as regularly as I used to. Here's a quote from George Washington from May 14, 1787 as he opened the constitutional convention in Philadelphia: If to please the people, we offer what we ourselves disapprove, how can we afterwards defend our work? Let us raise a standard to which the wise and honest can repair; the event is in the hand of God...

Richard Bennett

Posted on June 20, 2008
Can any readers out there tell me anything about Maryland federal district judge Richard Bennett, http://www.mdd.uscourts.gov/publications/JudgesBio/Bennett.htm, in terms of how conservative/textualist/originalist he may or may not be? Thanks.

What a GOP Senator Should Say

Posted on June 19, 2008
BoBo was kind enough to link to it in the threads under my last post, but I now take the opportunity to elevate to a new thread my latest Spectator column, here, about the message the GOP senators ought to be driving home on the Senate floor. It is meant as a supplement to the admirable efforts of McConnell, Specter, and others...

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Spitting Into a Maryland Wind

Posted on June 17, 2008
Just to make sure we don't forget another good man who the Dems are holding up for no good reason, we at the Washington Examiner today take up the case of Rod Rosenstein (here). Our sister publication in Baltimore did the same last week, here.

Boumediene v. Bush

Posted on June 14, 2008
Secretary of War Elihu Root once said that, ?as near as I can make out the Constitution follows the flag - but doesn't quite catch up with it.? Apparently, it is closing in. Today, U.S. and allied troops are on the ground fighting the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan...

Be Ready, Mr. President

Posted on June 10, 2008
Forgive the rank mischief-making, but I posted this at the American Spectator blog yesterday, and it really belongs here, too: Memo to President Bush: As the Supreme Court winds down its term in the next three weeks, your administration better be ready...

McConnell Not Satisfied with Today?s Confirmations

Posted on June 10, 2008
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...

This day in Confirm Them History

Posted on June 09, 2008
William H. Pryor, Jr. was confirmed as judge to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals. So, let us raise a virtual glass of Blanton's to Judge Pryor on this the third anniversary of his confirmation as a federal-appellate judge. (Cross-posted on Southern Appeal)

Good Summation of Current Situation

Posted on June 09, 2008
Our friend Curt Levey has done an excellent summation (here) of the current state of affairs in the judge battles. An excellent, thorough rundown.

Maybe I'm Just Picky, But....

Posted on June 09, 2008
Former Supreme Court Justice O'Connor has a new web site to indoctrinate the young teach kids about the judicial branch. Her web site's definition of "Judicial Review" is as follows: Judicial Review ? This is the power of the courts to declare laws or actions of the local, state, or national government invalid if the courts decide these laws or actions are unconstitutional (emphasis added)...

Sandy Froman on Judicial Nominations

Posted on June 08, 2008
Former NRA President Sandy Froman wrote a June 6 column for Townhall, titled McConnell Halts Senate Over Judges. Here's an excerpt: [C]onservative Antonin Scalia was confirmed to the Supreme Court 98-0, and liberal Ruth Bader Ginsburg was confirmed 96-3...

McConnell Takes Next Step

Posted on June 06, 2008
Hail to McConnell for continuing his efforts. Here is from a Roll Call article elaborating on what he did yesterday to keep up the fight: : Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Thursday morning that he would continue procedural tactics to delay action on the global warming bill unless Democrats consider President Bush?s judicial nominations...

Two and a quarter cheers for McConnell

Posted on June 05, 2008
I was swamped with straight journalism work yesterday and thus derelict in commenting on McConnell's work yesterday to highlight the judicial nominations issue. I must applaud McConnell for stepping up to the plate. If I had had time yesterday, I would have praised him to high heaven...

McCain on CA Ballot Initiative

Posted on June 04, 2008
As the California initiative enshrining the traditional definition of marriage in the state Constitution qualified for the November ballot, John McCain took the opportunity to emphasize the undemocratic nature of judicial activism: I welcome the news that the people of California will have the opportunity to decide on the question of the definition of marriage, rather than having that decision made by judicial fiat as the California Supreme Court asserted in their recent ruling...

Seante Shutdown

Posted on June 04, 2008
Senate Republicans, angry over the pace of confirming President Bush?s judicial nominees, tied up the floor Wednesday to force Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to schedule more confirmation votes. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) objected on the Senate floor to Reid?s efforts to speed debate on climate change by forcing the clerk to read a 500-page substitute amendment...

Chavez on Judicial Nominations

Posted on May 30, 2008
Linda Chavez has a May 30 column about picking judges. Here's a sample: Ironically, the only candidate whose primary concern is the law is the one candidate who isn't a lawyer: John McCain. He says he wants ?jurists of the highest caliber, who know their own minds, and know the law, and know the difference...

Examiner on Reid's broken promise

Posted on May 28, 2008
Today's Examiner editorial (here) takes Harry Reid and Patrick Leahy to task, quite strongly, for their lies and hypocrisy.

Hatch laments Bizarro World

Posted on May 24, 2008
Senator Hatch scolded ?Democratic leaders?—with initials HR and PJL I presume—for breaking their commitment and frequently twisting the truth. Hatch noted that the judicial confirmation process reminds him of Bizarro World, ?where up is down, right is left...

McConnell: Reid Fails the Lott Standard

Posted on May 22, 2008
On the Senate floor today, Sen. McConnell eloquently explained that Sen. Reid has failed to live up to the standard of commitment set by then-Majority Leader Lott, who made good on his promise to get up-or-down votes for controversial 9th Circuit Clinton nominees Paez and Berzon...

Cornyn Denounces Reid

Posted on May 22, 2008
Sen. John Cornyn released a statement this afternoon decrying Majority Leader Reid?s failure to live up to his promise to confirm three circuit nominees before the Memorial Day recess, which begins Saturday. Cornyn notes that Reid could easily have kept his promise ? think Matthews, Conrad and Keisler ? and warns that there will be repercussions...

Judges MATTER!!!!

Posted on May 21, 2008
[Cross posting at Southern Appeal AND The American Spectator blog] K-Lo at NRO noted this first, but this confirms what I have insisted again and again, and what all of you good readers of this site have also insisted and known in your very marrows: Our voters care, deeply, about judges...

McConnell Pledges Fight

Posted on May 21, 2008
A good GOP Senate source reports today that Minority Leader Mitch McConnell addressed the entire Republican Conference (I think it was yesteray; maybe this morning; am unclear on the timing) about the judge-fight issue. McConnell is said to have been very insistent that he would not let Majority Leader Reid's broken promise go unpunished, and that he will be prepared to take significant action when Congress returns from its Memorial Day break if Reid has not lived up to his pledge...

Hail to Specter

Posted on May 20, 2008
I have to hand it to Arlen Specter. The man is undergoing chemo again, and visibly not feeling well, and yet he is fighting like a Spartan to spotlight the Dems' obstructionism on judges. His speech yesterday on the Senate floor was strong. I watched most of it, and read all of it...

Agee Confirmed, Reid Blames GOP For Delays on Other Nominations, Specter Ticked Off

Posted on May 20, 2008
Today, the Senate confirmed G. Steven Agee of Virginia to the Fourth Circuit by a vote of 96-0 (not voting were Senators McCain, Obama, and Clinton, as well as Senator Kennedy who has our get-well wishes). Incidentally, in related news, ?Virginia Attorney General Robert F...

Reid Blames GOP for Failure to Meet His Promise

Posted on May 19, 2008
Of course this is disingenuous as hell, but it is exactly what I predicted from the very start. If the GOP doesn't "shut down the Senate" over this, they have no spines. Personally, I think the best time to "shut down the Senate" would be either right after Agee gets confirmed, or else AFTER Bush vetoes the Farm Bill, with the shutdown making it impossible for the Senate to override the farm bill in time...

Breaking News....

Posted on May 16, 2008
This just in from California: the state supreme court has just decided that the words "man" and "woman" each apply equally to people of both sexes, and are therefore completely interchangeable words. Any non-compliant state government document shall be burned forthwith and post haste...

Judges Issue in '08 Election

Posted on May 15, 2008
This afternoon, I will be on a panel at the National Press Club entitled "Election 2008: What the Media Isn't Telling You." I?ll be discussing the role of the judges issue in the ?08 election, the prospects for Supreme Court personnel changes, and the current judges fight in the Senate...

Barack Obama v. The Father of the Bill of Rights

Posted on May 12, 2008
Do you know who the "Father of the Bill of Rights" was? Everyone knows that George Washington was the "Father of Our Country." And James Madison is renowned as the "Father of the Constitution." But who was the "Father of the Bill of Rights"? James Madison was instrumental in getting the Bill of Rights adopted, but many historians give primary credit to George Mason, who developed the ideas in the Bill of Rights, and agitated for their inclusion in the Constitution...

What About William Smith??

Posted on May 09, 2008
Does anybody have a good idea of what the political prospects are for First Circuit nominee William Smith? He was once chief of staff for Chafee; does that make him more acceptable to Dems, or does it mean that Whitehouse will block him because his Whitehouse's campaign against Chafee got pretty nasty? I'm all for getting confirmed ANY nominee actually chosen by the Bush White House, even if they aren't sperb conservatives...

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