jefferson_dem
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Fri May-01-09 09:03 AM
Original message |
Conservatives freaking out over implications of Souter stepping down. |
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Edited on Fri May-01-09 09:03 AM by jefferson_dem
Good stuff right here, from the neocon NRO. Filling the Souter Seat
Some initial thoughts on President Obama’s opportunity to appoint a successor to Justice Souter:
1. Obama’s own record and rhetoric make clear that he will seek left-wing judicial activists who will indulge their passions, not justices who will make their rulings with dispassion. As I discussed more fully in this essay:
In explaining his vote against Roberts, Obama opined that deciding the "truly difficult" cases requires resort to "one's deepest values, one's core concerns, one's broader perspectives on how the world works, and the depth and breadth of one's empathy." In short, "the critical ingredient is supplied by what is in the judge's heart." No clearer prescription for lawless judicial activism is possible.
Indeed, in setting forth the sort of judges he would appoint, Obama has explicitly declared: "We need somebody who's got the heart, the empathy, to recognize what it's like to be a young teenage mom, the empathy to understand what it's like to be poor or African-American or gay or disabled or old—and that's the criterion by which I'll be selecting my judges." So much for the judicial virtue of dispassion. So much for a craft of judging that is distinct from politics.
2. Souter has been a terrible justice, but you can expect Obama’s nominee to be even worse. The Left is clamoring for “liberal lions” who will redefine the Constitution as a left-wing goodies bag. Consider some of their leading contenders, like Harold Koh (champion of judicial transnationalism and transgenderism), Massaschusetts governor Deval Patrick (a racialist extremist and judicial supremacist), and Cass Sunstein (advocate of judicial invention of a “second Bill of Rights” on welfare, employment, and other Nanny State mandates). Or Second Circuit judge Sonia Sotomayor, whose shenanigans in trying to bury the firefighters’ claims in Ricci v. DeStefano triggered an extraordinary dissent by fellow Clinton appointee José Cabranes (and the Supreme Court’s pending review of the ruling). Or Elena Kagan, who led the law schools’ opposition to military recruitment on their campuses, who used remarkably extreme rhetoric—“a profound wrong” and “a moral injustice of the first order”—to condemn the federal law on gays in the military that was approved in 1993 by a Democratic-controlled Congress and signed into law by President Clinton, and who received 31 votes against her confirmation as Solicitor General. Or Seventh Circuit judge Diane Wood, a fervent activist whose extreme opinions in an abortion case managed to elicit successive 8-1 and 9-0 slapdowns by the Supreme Court.
3. Don’t be fooled by the false claims that we have a conservative Supreme Court. The Court has a working majority of five living-constitutionalists. Four of them—Stevens, Souter, Ginsburg, and Breyer—consistently engage in liberal judicial activism, and a fifth, Kennedy, frequently does. As a result, the Court is markedly to the left of the American public on a broad range of issues. Indeed, in coming years, Souter’s replacement may well provide the fifth vote for:
— the imposition of a federal constitutional right to same-sex marriage;
— stripping “under God” out of the Pledge of Allegiance and completely secularizing the public square;
— the continued abolition of the death penalty on the installment plan;
— selectively importing into the Court’s interpretation of the American Constitution the favored policies of Europe’s leftist elites;
— further judicial micromanagement of the government’s war powers; and
— the invention of a constitutional right to human cloning.
<SNIP>
http://bench.nationalreview.com/post/?q=NzhmZTkyN2YwYjhkODI3ZDAxOGQ2ZGE0ZTc1N2UwZDI=
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ElsewheresDaughter
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Fri May-01-09 09:05 AM
Response to Original message |
1. wait until they find out that Obama will get to pick two more replacements...Ginsbugh and Stevens |
leftofcool
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Fri May-01-09 09:11 AM
Response to Reply #1 |
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I hope President Obama chooses Johnathan Turly to replace S
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skooooo
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Fri May-01-09 09:13 AM
Response to Reply #4 |
6. Has he ever been a judge? |
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Usually, someone is picked who's worked themselves up through the judicial system.
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leftofcool
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Fri May-01-09 09:24 AM
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11. Not as far as I know but it is not a requirement |
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I dont think you have to be an attorney or have been an attorney, but Turly knows his constitutional law better than anyone I have ever listened to.
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skooooo
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Fri May-01-09 09:26 AM
Response to Reply #11 |
14. There's a difference between |
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knowing the law and having experience as a judge. And it would be crazy to have a supreme court judge who didn't have a law degree.
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leftofcool
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Fri May-01-09 09:29 AM
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15. Turley has a law degree. He is a constitutional law professor |
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You can't teach law as a prof without a law degree.
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skooooo
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Fri May-01-09 09:35 AM
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17. never a judge...next. nt |
leftofcool
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Fri May-01-09 09:36 AM
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19. read his bio, having been a judge is not a requirement...next |
skooooo
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Fri May-01-09 09:39 AM
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21. Please see my OP "Supreme Court idiocy" |
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I don't know why people think they have some expertise in picking nominees. Cause you like someone is not a reason.
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leftofcool
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Fri May-01-09 09:36 AM
Response to Reply #15 |
18. as a side note: here is a link where you can read his blog and bio |
yardwork
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Fri May-01-09 09:54 AM
Response to Reply #14 |
23. Clarence Thomas was never a judge. |
SpartanDem
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Fri May-01-09 11:43 AM
Response to Reply #23 |
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for one year he was on the First Circuit Court of Appeals.
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yardwork
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Fri May-01-09 01:18 PM
Response to Reply #29 |
32. Really? I didn't know that. How appalling. |
skooooo
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Fri May-01-09 09:12 AM
Response to Reply #1 |
5. They're both pretty liberal, aren't they? |
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I wish he could replace Thomas and Scalia.
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CTyankee
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Fri May-01-09 09:42 AM
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22. And, if he picks replacements from the federal district courts, he'll get to pick THEIR replacements |
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thereby ensuring a liberal continuity there.
I love it. I just love it.
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skooooo
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Fri May-01-09 09:11 AM
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2. Good. I hope they'll be unhappy for a long, long, long time. nt |
Renew Deal
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Fri May-01-09 09:11 AM
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3. Just watch what happens if Obama gets to replace Scalia or Thomas. |
TheCowsCameHome
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Fri May-01-09 09:21 AM
Response to Reply #3 |
10. ...I'll buy the drinks when those open up..... |
saltpoint
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Fri May-01-09 09:14 AM
Response to Original message |
7. Having the fundies freaked-out and off-balance is good for us. |
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Presidents get to appoint SCOTUS nominees.
A Republican president appointed Souter.
The fundies will have to get over it.
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Joanne98
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Fri May-01-09 09:16 AM
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8. I hope he picks someone FAR FAR FAR to the left on economic issues. |
alcibiades_mystery
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Fri May-01-09 09:18 AM
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9. Elections have consequences |
monmouth
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Fri May-01-09 09:24 AM
Response to Original message |
12. Let's start the rumor that Janet Reno is interested... Ah, never mind...LOL.. |
Towlie
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Fri May-01-09 09:24 AM
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13. They will slither, and they will squirm, and they will wriggle, and they will writhe... |
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And in doing so they will present such a disgusting spectacle to the public that their ranks will shrink even further.
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mwb970
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Fri May-01-09 09:30 AM
Response to Original message |
16. As always, they freak out at great length before he actually *does* anything. |
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Everything the wingnuts hate about Obama seems to involve things he hasn't actually done and never will: restoring the Fairness Doctrine, confiscating all the guns, and now appointing unsuitable Justices to the SC.
At least our objections to bush involved things he actually said and did. The wingnuts are truly deranged.
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ErinBerin84
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Fri May-01-09 09:36 AM
Response to Original message |
20. Some choice Freak Republic quotes |
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"I, for one, welcome Justice Ayers"
"Question. Suppose Obama does appoint 2 or 3 Supreme Court justices and then it is found that he wasn’t eligible to be President. Does that kick out any of his appointments?"
"2nd plan, wait until Jon Stewart goes on vacation...all the liberals I know get their “news” from Stewart, so if he’s out they won’t have anyone to tell them what to think.”
"Don't laugh....Arlen could be the next Supreme Court Justice."
"He’ll appoint Perez Hilton."
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Iris
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Fri May-01-09 11:36 AM
Response to Reply #20 |
28. still clinging to the possibility Obama isn't "really the President." Idiots. Besides, |
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isn't Souter the judge they love to hate?
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ErinBerin84
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Fri May-01-09 11:46 AM
Response to Reply #28 |
30. from reading the comments |
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it was a split between "Another lib for another lib" and "If you think that Souter is a commie, I have news for you, wait till you guys see the radical that Nobama is gonna pick."
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oviedodem
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Fri May-01-09 10:07 AM
Response to Original message |
24. Here is what I find stunning: |
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"Deval Patrick (a racialist extremist and judicial supremacist)"
Every time a black leader or pol talks about the black community or urban community, the right IMMEDIATELY labels them as racialist or racist.
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ohheckyeah
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Fri May-01-09 10:30 AM
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25. Any day the conservatives are freaking out |
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is a good day. First Specter, now Souter. I'm loving it.
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Phx_Dem
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Fri May-01-09 11:21 AM
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26. Good. I have two words for them . . . Roberts, Alito. |
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You got your two wingnuts, so fuck off.
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xxqqqzme
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Fri May-01-09 11:32 AM
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27. The RW goons are going to spend a looooong |
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time w/ the panties in a wad considering their over-reaction to everything in the first 100 days. The continual whining and complaining are getting old fast. They are marginalizing themselves.
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RoadRage
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Fri May-01-09 11:55 AM
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31. Funny how they are so bad at getting what they gave... |
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Roberts... all clapping... when Bushy had his chance.. it was all about moving back to the right, getting Abortion back to being illegal, etc.
Now when the left is in charge again - when we hope for a justice who might vote the other way, they're painted as an "activist judge". Only activist if they don't activate what YOU want them to.
The hypocricy is astounding... and I just sort of have to laugh.... especially as they regulate themselves into a further regional minority.
Hopefully soon republicans will need to be a protected class.. ;)
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Fri May 03rd 2024, 09:51 PM
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