THE NOMINATION OF JOHN ROBERT- It's time to be afraid, very afraid

[bloom]

THE NOMINATION OF JOHN ROBERTS
It's time to be afraid, very afraid

By Jonathan Turley
law professor at George Washington Law School
Published July 24, 2005

In 1948, a young Abner Mikva (future Illinois congressman and federal judge) reportedly walked into an Illinois Democratic committeeman's office to volunteer as an enthusiastic young Democrat. The cigar-chomping committeeman looked suspiciously at Mikva and asked, "Who sent you?" Mikva answered "Nobody." The committeeman then barked, "We don't want nobody nobody sent."

It is a Chicago lesson that comes to mind with last week's Supreme Court nomination. For conservative groups, nominee John Roberts was not sent by nobody but by President Bush--and that appears to be enough. While his views are not well-known publicly, Roberts is well-known in the Beltway and in the White House.

With little public record, the White House was able to focus on personality rather than ideology. Indeed, the comments of the White House and others made it sound like we're adopting a golden retriever: He is "kind," "loyal," "family-oriented," "faithful" and "friendly." The only thing missing is an American Kennel Club certificate that he was free of hip dysplasia.

The suggestion that Roberts is not as hard-right as other people on the shortlist confuses style with substance. As someone who believes that Bush is entitled to such a nominee, I am less bothered by the fact that he is extremely conservative as I am the odd suggestion that he might be a swing vote on the Supreme Court. If Roberts is a swing vote on the court, it would be between the far right and the farther right. <more>

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-0507240283jul24,0,3478941.story?coll=chi-newsopinioncommentary-hed

[LisaL]

1. LOL.

"He is "kind," "loyal," "family-oriented," "faithful" and "friendly." The only thing missing is an American Kennel Club certificate that he was free of hip dysplasia."
I thought Bush already had a poodle.

[bloom]

2. Maybe Roberts can be the Cocker Spanial... eom

[Auntie Bush]

3. That did it! I'm afraid...very afraid...after reading that article.

[bloom]

4. "found that Bush could deny terrorism captives prisoner-of-war status..."

"Between 1989 and 1993, Roberts was principal deputy solicitor general, the government's second highest lawyer, under Kenneth Starr. Some Democratic senators have said they want to see all the documents drafted by Roberts when he served in the two previous Republican administrations in order to understand Roberts" views on issues such as abortion, workers' rights, women's rights, civil rights and the environment. Yesterday, the Bush administration said there would not be a blanket release of the documents and that they would instead would look at the requests on a case-by-case basis....

Roberts was also part of a three-judge panel that handed Bush an important victory the week before Bush announced Roberts nomination to the bench. In fact, the day before the ruling was issued, President Bush interviewed Roberts at the White House. The next day, the court released their ruling that the military tribunals of detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, could proceed. The decision also found that Bush could deny terrorism captives prisoner-of-war status as outlined by the Geneva Conventions."

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/07/25/1340214

[progressoid]

5. Hey, maybe we could filibuster this guy...

Oh, wait. That "wonderful" filibuster compromise won't allow us to.

Explain again how that compromise was a victory for our side?????

[Talismom]

6. Yeah, I wanna hear this explanation too! n/t

[progressoid]

15. the silence is deafening....

[Talismom]

7. Yeah, I wanna hear this explanation too! n/t

[hippiegranny]

8. Not to change the subject,

but it is a related topic. I may have missed it when this was discussed here, but WHY OH WHY did Sandra Day O'Connor pick RIGHT NOW to decide to retire?

[progressoid]

14. Her husband has Alzheimer's

I heard that on The Daily Show.

[lastliberalintexas]

16. Because she's just as much a party stooge

as the rest of them- she just has a more moderate *image*. After all, she was the one who wanted Bush to win in 2000 so that she could retire under a repub president. I believe it was her husband who spilled the beans on that remark, and the fallout from it after the Bush v. Gore decision is the only thing that has kept her on the bench for this long.

O'Connor really is no moderate- she only appears to be one next to the far right wingers on the Court.

[Twist_U_Up]

9. I always hate to judge a book by its cover

but watching him walk out with the schrub at thier nomination speech, the first thing I thought was this guy is a snake.

I know I know...... why do I hate amerika....

[McCamy Taylor]

10. * and Co. LIED. He is a Federalist after all. So, now I am worried again.

[dogday]

11. He is a wolf is sheep's clothing

nobody knows just how far right this guy is...

[bloom]

12. "The Making of the Corporate Judiciary"

By Michael Scherer

November/December 2003 Issue

"Those familiar with Rove's operation in Texas now see the same strategy at work in the White House's selection of federal judges. In addition to Owen and Pryor, Bush has nominated Ohio Supreme Court Justice Deborah Cook, who rose to prominence on the back of a statewide business campaign, which helped her raise $650,000 for her 2000 re-election. Other nominees have distinguished themselves as lawyers defending the rights and profits of corpo-rations. Carolyn B. Kuhl, who Bush nominated for the 9th Circuit, represented tobacco and gas companies before becoming a California state judge, arguing against employee-discrimination claims and the right of whistleblowers to sue corporations. John Roberts, a Bush nominee who recently won confirmation to the District of Co-lumbia Circuit Court, worked as an attorney to strike down new clean-air rules and filed a brief for the National Mining Association, arguing that federal courts could not stop mountaintop-removal mining in West Virginia. Business groups cheered the appointment of Jeffrey Sutton, a conservative activist, to the 6th Circuit because of his long record of opposing federal powers over the states, including a successful case that voided federal employee-discrimination laws. Another nominee, Victor Wolski, who was confirmed to the Court of Federal Claims, worked for years as an attorney at the Pacific Legal Foundation, an organization devoted to rolling back the "regulatory state." "Every single job I've taken since college has been ideologically oriented, trying to further my principles," Wolski told a reporter in 1999."

http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2003/11/ma_564_01.html

[ConfuZed]

13. Bah! Who needs gay rights,civil rights and the right to abortion

THE MAN IS CUTE! :sarcasm: :puke: