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Hillary Clinton plans to attend the launching ceremony of a warship. And not just any warship, but the USS Gabrielle Giffords, named for the liberal congresswoman who was shot in the head. For Hillary, every decision is still about wimmen and grrrls. But her decision raises the larger question about whether it is appropriate to name a warship after Giffords. After all, Giffords was viewed as a helpless victim. That doesn't make for a very intimidating name for a warship. Giffords is called a hero because she survived. Does surviving make her a hero? I think surviving makes her a...

On the morning of Saturday, Jan. 8, Chief Judge John M. Roll attended Mass at St. Thomas the Apostle Church in Tucson, Ariz., before heading to the grocery store where Rep. Gabrielle Giffords was holding an event for constituents. When a gunman opened fire on the crowd moments later, Roll shielded a friend from attack and took a fatal bullet in his own back. In the weeks that followed this devastating attack, much has been written and said about the victims. Although Judge Roll is now known as a hero, the Catholic community may not fully appreciate the loss it...

"A video of the massacre revealed that Judge Roll literally laid his life down to save another. The judge was shot in the back as he knocked down and then shielded congressional aide Ron Barber from more of the bullets fired by Loughner. According to a sheriff's department employee who viewed the video, Judge Roll placed himself over Barber while Loughner continued firing. . . . "We all wonder what we would do under such circumstances, but I am convinced that Judge Roll's Christian faith played a major roll in his actions on Jan. 8. I know this because Judge...

Federal Judge John Roll was killed in Tucson trying to save another man’s life. As soon as madman Jared Lee Loughner finished his attempt to murder Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, he turned his gun on the people to his left, then the people to his right. Recently released video shows his first target to the right was Ron Barber, Gifford’s district director, who was standing next to Justice John Roll. Barber was shot in the arm. Judge Roll then pushed him down and, shielding Barber with his own body, steered him to shelter under a nearby table. While under the table,...

Last week he was called “fair” and “just.” Today, Judge John Roll, the federal judge killed in the Tucson shooting, is being called a hero. Police say security footage from the Safeway store where the shooting occurred shows accused gunman Jared Loughner walking up to Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and shooting here at close range — the video shows only a wisp of her hair, however. Loughner then turns and begins firing indiscriminately into the crowd. “He wheels this direction and that direction firing,” Chris Nanos, a captain with the Pima County Sheriff’s Department who has viewed the video, told the...

The chief investigator for the sheriff’s department here has for the first time publicly described the brief and gory video clip from a store security camera that shows a gunman not only shooting Representative Gabrielle Giffords just above the eyebrow at a range of three feet, but then using his 9-millimeter pistol to gun down others near her at a similarly close range. The video, according to Richard Kastigar, the investigative and operational bureau chief of the Pima County Sheriff’s Department, also reveals that Judge John M. Roll appears to have died while helping to save the life of Ronald...

Cameras rolled as suspect Jared Loughner allegedly fired all 31 bullets in the clip of his Glock, plus another round that was already in the chamber, at a supermarket in Tucson, Ariz., on Jan. 8. At the outset of the melee, unidentified sources who have seen the video tell the Washington Post, Loughner walked straight up to congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and shot her above the left eye from about two or three feet away. Within moments, Loughner also allegedly shot Chief Arizona U.S. District Judge John Roll, who had tried to take cover under a table. As Roll did so,...

Conservative talk radio host Mark Levin said he would file a lawsuit against anyone in the media who tries to link him to the shootings in Arizona, as Chris Matthews did earlier in the week. On MSNBC’s “Hardball” Tuesday night, Matthews essentially blamed Levin and talk radio host Michael Savage for creating a climate of hate that led to the Tucson shootings that killed six and injured 13, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. On Wednesday, Levin — an attorney — told his listeners: “I’m waiting for an allegation that is very specific against me because I’m going to sue. I don’t...

January 14th, 2011 Judge John M. Roll: A True American Hero By: Richard Mack Liberty News Radio On January 8, 2011, Federal District Judge John Roll was gunned down by a maniacal coward lunatic. Since this unspeakable and unimaginable tragedy much has been said about who caused this tragedy or who may have prompted its occurrence. Some of this rhetoric bordered on the absurd. I would much rather talk about the good people who had their lives snuffed out before their time and to pay tribute to who they were and what they stood for. Certainly, a beautiful little nine...

You might be seeing a lot of Eric Fuller over the weekend. He’s one of the people injured in Jared Loughner’s shooting rampage, taking rounds in the knee and back. He’s also a vicious bigot, and because he’s elderly and a military veteran, the Left is going to fall in love with him. Fuller gave an interview with the Democracy NOW radio show, in which he said of the Tucson shootings: “It looks like Palin, Beck, Sharron Angle, and the rest got their first target.” Presumably he’s not talking about Judge John Roll. “Their wish for Second Amendment activism has...

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) - One day after mourning a bubbly 9-year-old slain during the attempted assassination of a congresswoman, residents and fellow jurists gathered Friday at the same Tucson church to remember a federal judge. U.S. District Judge John Roll, who served nearly 40 years, had stopped by a supermarket meet-and-greet for Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords on Saturday when he was shot and killed, along with five others. Authorities say the shooter, 22-year-old Jared Loughner, was targeting Giffords, who was wounded along with 12 others. Giffords' husband, astronaut Mark Kelly, posted a message on Twitter Friday saying "GG" was "improving...

"Judge Roll was recommended for the federal bench by John McCain 20 years ago, appointed by President George H.W. Bush, and rose to become Arizona's chief federal judge," Obama told the crowd at the University of Arizona. Roll's "colleagues described him as the hardest-working judge within the Ninth Circuit. He was on his way back from attending mass, as he did every day, when he decided to stop by and say, 'Hi,' to his representative." ... Loughner's alleged killing of Roll may only be a crime under federal law if Roll was on business and not merely stopping by to...

In January 2008, at the invitation of Bishop Thomas Olmsted, I gave a homily at the annual Red Mass for attorneys, judges and public officials in Phoenix.  The theme wasn’t new; I’ve said it a hundred times.  So has Bishop Olmsted.  So have many other bishops.  But over the past weekend I dug it out and reread the homily’s last few lines: “We’re citizens of heaven first. Our time here is limited. This life passes. Eternity is forever. We need to act in this world accordingly, with lives of Christian service to the poor and afflicted—including the unborn child, the...

The devastated parents of accused Tucson shooter Jared Loughner released a statement today saying they "don't understand" what prompted their son to allegedly go on a "heinous" shooting rampage that killed six and injured 14 others, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. It was the first word from Loughner's family since the carnage on Saturday. "This is a very difficult time for us. We ask the media to respect our privacy. There are no words that can possibly express how we feel. We wish that there were so we could make you feel better. We don't understand why this happened. It may...

The tragic shooting in Tucson Saturday morning took the life of six people, among them John McCarthy Roll, the chief judge of the District of Arizona. Judge Roll was 63. Click here for my and Nathan Koppel’s story on Roll in the WSJ; here for the NYT’s article; here for the LAT’s; here for the Arizona Republic’s. Roll was known within the Tucson legal community as a conservative and even-handed jurist who, in recent years had worked hard to increase funding for an overstretched Arizona federal bench. “He was a life-long Republican and I don’t think he would have objected...

Received an email from moveon.org announcing their "petition drive" "to put an end to the hateful rhetoric and all overt or implied appeals to violence".

"U.S. Marshal for Arizona David Gonzales confirmed to the Associated Press that U.S. District Judge John Roll died in the attack Saturday."

Attorney General Eric Holder condemned the deadly shooting of federal judge John Roll on Saturday, promising that the Justice Department would assist the FBI in investigating the attack in Tucson, Ariz. “I want to assure the people of Arizona and every American that we will hold accountable anyone responsible for these heinous acts,” Holder said in a statement. Here’s Holder’s full statement: “Today’s tragedy in Arizona was a senseless act of violence that has already resulted in devastating loss, including the death of Chief United States District Court Judge John Roll and four other individuals and the wounding of Representative...

Michelle Malkin has the grim list of innocent victims who have died as a result of wounds received during the AZ shootings yesterday. Not receiving half the attention accorded to Rep. Giffords, is the tragic death of federal judge John Roll who, unrelated to the shooting by the madman Loughner, received numerous death threats for some of his immigration rulings: John. M. Roll, the federal judge killed Saturday in the Tucson shooting that critically wounded Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), has been at the center of the state's complicated political battle over immigration. In February 2009, Roll received hundreds of threats...

That’s the story I’ve heard, and it fits with what I have heard about Judge John Roll before today. I had heard him speak this summer and was impressed by his intelligence and kindness. It isn’t every federal judge that will take the time to address a group of law students.His death in the Giffords shooting puzzled me. Why was he there? Was he a target?From what I can gather at the moment, it sounds like it was an unfortunate—a tragic—coincidence.A friend told me that he went to Mass Saturday morning, as it was his habit to do daily, and...