Posted on 01/06/2003 11:42:30 AM PST by NativeNewYorker
WASHINGTON, Jan. 6 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The next 12 to 24 months --
beginning with the Senate's return to Washington this week and
President Bush's expected nominations to the federal judiciary could
determine the law of the land and the shape of our government for the
next several decades. The judicial choices President Bush makes, and
the response of the U.S. Senate, will have an extraordinary impact on
the lives and liberties of all Americans, their children and their
grandchildren.
Consider:
-- By 2004, all 13 federal circuit courts of appeal could well be
controlled by Republican-appointed judges. And seven of the nine
current Supreme Court justices were appointed by Republican
presidents. Rarely, if ever, in our history has the entire federal
judiciary been dominated by the appointees of one political party.
-- It is expected that President Bush will send the Senate a batch
of judicial nominations as early as Jan. 7, the first day that the
Senate is back in session. If the rhetoric from the White House and
its allies is any indication, the president will ensure a series of
contentious confirmation battles by pushing appellate court nominees
whose judicial philosophies are in sync with the most far right
members of the Supreme Court, Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence
Thomas.
-- It has been more than eight years since the last Supreme Court
vacancy, the longest interval between vacancies in 180 years. Indeed,
over the past half century, there has been on the average one Supreme
Court nomination every two years. It is very likely that one or two
vacancies -- perhaps as early as this summer --will give President
Bush the chance to put his stamp on the Supreme Court for decades to
come.
-- A Supreme Court with a Scalia-Thomas majority could overturn
more than 100 precedents and turn back the clock decades on civil and
voting rights, privacy and reproductive choice, religious liberty,
environmental protection, consumer and worker safety, and more.
Preventing ideologues who want to return our Constitution and country
to the ''states' rights'' judicial era from dominating our highest
court will be a monumental struggle over the nation's future.
There is an urgent need for a vigorous national debate on the
Bush-Scalia-Thomas judicial philosophy and the impact the President's
judicial nominations could have on the daily lives of every American.
What would it mean to privacy rights, civil rights, reproductive
choice, clean air and water, and religious liberty if President Bush
fulfills his promise to appoint judges like Clarence Thomas and
Antonin Scalia? Americans have a right to know what is at stake before
they wake up one morning in 2004 or in 2005 and discover that
overnight they have lost fundamental rights, liberties, and
protections that they thought were theirs forever.
To read the complete memo entitled ''The Approaching Armageddon on
Judicial Nominations,'' go to
http://www.pfaw.org/independent-judiciary.
It's about time.
We had that debate in the last Presidential election. Voted. Settled it. Reaffirmed it in the last election.
What a ludicrous, paranoid rant.
What all this ginned-up hysteria is REALLY about is one and only one issue: abortion. The FemiNazis call the shots for the DNC on this issue--and they are one-issue dykes, for sure.
Bush isn't about to nominate a bunch of conservatives like Thomas or Scalia while he is running for re-election. And especially not while he's playing Army with Iraq and North Korea.
If you look at what he has done with nominations up to now you will see that each group has a token conservative or two and the rest are moderate to liberal.
Can't they even come up with some new terminology?
Cordially,
If this means (as I expect it does) applying the laws as they're written rather than bending them to fit preconceived desires, and looking into the debate that took place before the passage of the law to determine the intent of unclear portions, then I'm emphatically for it!
What better proof that none of the sitting justices trusted Clinton to appoint a sane replacement?
The administration had better stand firm against these reactionist nerds & appoint strict constitutionalists.
Is this some new perversion?? Getting your jollies from rubbing plate glass?? Man--that is even worse than Clinton.
This is US Newswire. Pay them money, and they will publish your press releases.
It is not a news agency, in the sense that AP, UPI, and Reuters are.
This particular press release is from People for the American Way, Norman Lear's liberal advocacy group.
I've never understood why lesbians would care so much about abortion.
Preventing ideologues who want to return our Constitution and country to the ''states' rights'' judicial era from dominating our highest court will be a monumental struggle over the nation's future. Ideologues? Um, you can't find a bigger ideologue than a PFAW member.! They basically want to overturn demorcratic elections and have their own way with the American judicial system. Sounds more like People for the Totalitarian Way. No need to vote in your own represenatives, Americans! PFAW will make everyones choices for them.
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