FORWARD EDITORIAL: Judging Roberts
July 22, 2005 in The Forward:
Years from now, when historians try to explain George W. Bush's influence on the American political landscape, they may well start by pointing to July 19, 2005, the day he nominated John Roberts to the Supreme Court. In choosing Roberts, Bush appears to have found the combination that has eluded conservatives for a quarter-century in their efforts to remake the high court: a brilliant legal mind with deeply conservative views but a slim paper trail, widely admired in the legal community and all but certain to win easy Senate confirmation.
The nomination is one more reminder that liberalism's four-decade reliance on the federal courts as a means of advancing its favorite causes has reached the end of its usefulness. Democracy is about winning elections, not lawsuits. Liberals should have figured that out years ago. Now they have no choice.
[SNIP]
It seems pointless, given Roberts's history, to search for signs of another Souter or Blackmun waiting to burst forth as a defender of minorities and the poor. Bush campaigned on a promise to move the country and the court to the right, and he has the votes to do it. Democrats are entitled, however, to insist on a justice in the Kennedy mold who will resist the right's bomb-throwing tendencies and preserve the fraying standards of civility in public discourse.
That may be the best that Democrats can hope for in this upcoming judicial battle. As long as they continue losing elections, their political strategies will consist of ever-more hopeless holding actions.
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Pam's House Blend has just added this post to the mix:
White House plans to squirrel away Roberts documents
Sunday, July 24, 2005
In yet another "hide the papers" folly, the Bush team is going to claim attorney-client privilege to keep a paper trail of SCOTUS nominee John Roberts's past work in the White House under wraps.
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Years from now, when historians try to explain George W. Bush's influence on the American political landscape, they may well start by pointing to July 19, 2005, the day he nominated John Roberts to the Supreme Court. In choosing Roberts, Bush appears to have found the combination that has eluded conservatives for a quarter-century in their efforts to remake the high court: a brilliant legal mind with deeply conservative views but a slim paper trail, widely admired in the legal community and all but certain to win easy Senate confirmation.
The nomination is one more reminder that liberalism's four-decade reliance on the federal courts as a means of advancing its favorite causes has reached the end of its usefulness. Democracy is about winning elections, not lawsuits. Liberals should have figured that out years ago. Now they have no choice.
[SNIP]
It seems pointless, given Roberts's history, to search for signs of another Souter or Blackmun waiting to burst forth as a defender of minorities and the poor. Bush campaigned on a promise to move the country and the court to the right, and he has the votes to do it. Democrats are entitled, however, to insist on a justice in the Kennedy mold who will resist the right's bomb-throwing tendencies and preserve the fraying standards of civility in public discourse.
That may be the best that Democrats can hope for in this upcoming judicial battle. As long as they continue losing elections, their political strategies will consist of ever-more hopeless holding actions.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pam's House Blend has just added this post to the mix:
White House plans to squirrel away Roberts documents
Sunday, July 24, 2005
In yet another "hide the papers" folly, the Bush team is going to claim attorney-client privilege to keep a paper trail of SCOTUS nominee John Roberts's past work in the White House under wraps.
