Free Republic

Senator Ted Kennedy has died.

No one suggests that the GOP should sink this low. But they also need not fear to ask tough questions of Sotomayer!Within 45 minutes of the July 1st announcement by President Reagan that he had selected Robert Bork to fill a vacancy on the Supreme Court Senator Ted Kennedy took to the Senate floor and unleashed this fireball of hate. The speech was telecast live on national TV: SEN. KENNEDY: "Robert Bork's America is a land in which women would be forced into back-alley abortions, blacks would sit at segregated lunch counters, rogue police could break down citizens' doors in...

...Biden was in town for a Democratic National Committee fundraising reception at the River Oaks home of lawyer Neal Manne — who served as Specter’s chief of staff in Washington in the 1980s... The vice president said that, as a senator from Delaware, he was Specter’s best friend in the Senate for 33 years, and that he and Manne “have been trying to remind Arlen that he is really Democrat.” “I have been working on that in earnest for the past four years and double time for the past 100 days (as vice president),” Biden added. “It seems only appropriate,”...

Controversy over the American Bar Association's ratings of potential judicial nominees is likely to continue with the announcement that the bar group will resume its role of evaluating candidates before their nominations. In fact, a soon-to-be-released study by political scientists concludes what conservative groups have long charged: The ratings are biased against potential conservative nominees. Political scientists Richard Vining of the University of Georgia, Amy Steigerwalt of Georgia State University and Susan Smelcer, an Emory University doctoral candidate, will present their findings next month at the Midwest Political Science Association's 67th Annual National Conference. The three academics, all of whom...

Listening to Fat Ted on C-Span. Retreading his Bork speech. Almost makes me ashamed to be an American.

With at least 52 Senators already on record in support, it's clear that--short of some smear ex machina--liberal Democrats can't stop Samuel Alito from being confirmed to a seat on the Supreme Court. So it's a good moment to consider what this says about our politics and what it means for the Court as it enters a new era. One conclusion is that the confirmation of both Chief Justice John Roberts and Judge Alito marks the most important domestic success for President Bush since his 2003 tax cuts. These look like legacy picks. Despite the Harriet Miers misstep, Mr. Bush...

The grand hulk of Ted Kennedy ranted that he wanted to subpoena the papers of former National Review publisher William Rusher to get to the bottom of Samuel Alito's membership in the Concerned Alumni of Princeton. At this moment, one sensed that perhaps at last the ghost of Robert Bork had finally been laid to rest. Borking was once a Democratic smear tactic. This week--amid intellectually exhausted and politically befuddled Democrats--it became a laugh track. It is widely believed that all this started in 1987 when Sen. Kennedy raced to the Senate floor to bellow that "Robert Bork's America is...

With the battle over the nomination of Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. to the Supreme Court set to take center stage on Monday, the American people have undoubtedly become familiar in past weeks with his critics -- along with their criticisms, attacks and mischaracterizations. If the best predictor of future behavior is past performance, then it is reasonable to expect that a host of rather predictable, knee-jerk criticisms -- which have already been refuted with fact -- will be leveled against this fine nominee in a misguided effort to discredit his qualifications. As a preview of the coming debate, here...

WASHINGTON — Rebounding from the failed nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court, President Bush is poised to select between two of the nation's leading conservative federal appeals-court judges — both with deep backgrounds in constitutional law — for what promises to be a bruising Senate confirmation battle. With an announcement expected today or Monday, administration officials have narrowed the focus to Judges Samuel Alito of New Jersey and Michael Luttig of Virginia, sources involved in the process said. Both have sterling legal qualifications and solid conservative credentials, and either would set off an explosive fight with Senate Democrats,...

What a firestorm has erupted over President Bush’s nomination of Harriet Miers to be the next Supreme Court justice. And on both sides, too. Back during the summer when it was noised about that Sandra Day O’Connor was first going to retire, would anyone have predicted the following? --Harry Reid of Nevada photographed with the candidate, and it being known that the selection was made in consultation with him? --DiFi being quoted as saying the candidate“is clearly a bright, intelligent woman” (and being echoed by Ted Kennedy) without any hint of sarcasm? --White House advisors borrowing a page from the...

"I do know that it's true," said former secretary of education and drug czar William Bennett, "that if you wanted to reduce crime, you could — if that were your sole purpose — you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down. That would be an impossible, ridiculous, and morally reprehensible thing to do, but your crime rate would go down. So these far-out, these far-reaching, extensive extrapolations are, I think, tricky."

Lessons from a Supreme Court nominee's defeat. For liberals and conservatives alike, the touchstone for beleaguered Supreme Court nominations is the rejection of Judge Robert Bork in 1987. Supreme Court nominees had been rejected before, 27 times, but never with so much orchestrated fury. Usually the nominees were lesser jurists, if not lesser intellects, if not lesser men, than was (or is) Judge Bork. The Senate rejected George Washington's nominee for chief justice, John Rutledge, in 1795 because of his position on a treaty. Andrew Jackson's nomination of Roger Taney was blocked in 1835, though Jackson later nominated Taney successfully...

The Borking of John Roberts has officially begun. And by "borking," we don't mean just ideologically opposing a Supreme Court nominee, but blatantly misrepresenting what he stands for.... The culprit this time is the abortion-rights group NARAL Pro-Choice America. The group has a TV ad that basically accuses Roberts of supporting violence at abortion clinics. It shows a woman injured in the 1998 bombing of a Birmingham, Ala., clinic — a heinous crime perpetrated by radical anti-abortionist Eric Rudolph that took the life of an off-duty cop. In the ad, the woman states, "I nearly lost my life." The piece...

Nothing is more infuriating in politics than a clean adversary, a certifiable good guy with real qualifications and no convictions for murder, child-molesting, bank robbery, or kidnapping.

The Incredible Chuck Schumer By: Leon H I generally try to avoid posts that poke fun at either Teddy Kennedy or Chuck Schumer on the basis that they're such easy targets, it takes all the fun out of the sport. It's about like hunting cows in Southwest Oklahoma. However, Schumer's response to the Roberts nomination is just too juicy for even me to resist. After the announcement of Roberts as Bush's first SCOTUS nominee, Schumer wasted no time letting everyone know that he was going to be the one to carry the water for the moonbats this go-round. What was...

A historic meltdown occurred in the summer of 1987. Washington, D.C. became a kiln of sweltering heat, smothering both man and beast. The blinding sun seared skin, the inside of noses singed with every breath, and anything within 50 feet of the sizzling sidewalks seemed to bake. But the truly toxic heat bellowed from the chambers of the U.S. Senate as Ted Kennedy took the floor. That summer found me “popping pregnant” -- 7 months and counting -- so I remember the heat well. I also was expectant with hope when President Reagan nominated Judge Robert Bork to fill a...

From the article "Anita Hill's After Story" in the July 2005 issue of O, The Oprah Magazine:[Anita Hill's] moment in the news may not be over yet. An appointment to the Supreme Court is for life, so Thomas's position is safe. With Chief Justice William Rehnquist possibly stepping down after the session ends in late June, however, court watchers wonder who might replace him. When previously asked about federal judicial appointments, Bush has said he would select judges like Thomas and Antonin Scalia, indicating a preference for such conservatives. That leads people to wonder whether Thomas might get the nod...

“He has loosed the fateful lightening of His terrible swift sword. He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat.” Those are two lines of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic“. Do they describe the current bunch of Republicans in Congress? As the Democrats continue to be mired in their out-of-power position, they have become more shrill, more audacious, more “in your face”. Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois even compared our service people holding enemy combatants in Guantanamo to Hitler, Pol Pot, etc. He is unrepentant, but this is usual for the leftists. The Democrat Party was at...

BOLTONBLOGGING: CLOTURE FAILS By Michelle Malkin   ·   May 26, 2005 06:58 PM So much for "comity." And "getting things done." Vote fails 56-42. 3 Dems sided with GOP: - Landrieu, Nelson, Pryor. 656pm. Sen. Harry Reid on the floor: "We're not here to filibuster Bolton, we're here to get information." 658pm Frist: It certainly sounds like a filibuster. It quacks like a filibuster. It does disappoint me...We are going to come back to this issue...but I think what America has just seen is an engagement of another period of obstruction by the other side...once again, another filibuster... 700pm. Reid: We...

BOLTONBLOGGING: ANOTHER REPUBLICAN BOLTS By Michelle Malkin   ·   May 27, 2005 10:11 AM Another Republican joins the "maverick" club: Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), the man who defeated Tom Daschle, has announced he will not vote for Bush U.N. ambassador nominee John Bolton. Thune says his opposition is payback for the Pentagon's recommendation to close Ellsworth Air Force Base. Thune now claims that Bolton "is not the best man for the job." From AP (hat tip: reader Cynthia M.): Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., said Thursday that he would vote against the nomination of John Bolton to be ambassador to the United...