Free Republic

IN A SPEECH on the federal judiciary last week, John McCain sounded the familiar conservative call for judges who know their place. "My nominees," he promised, "will understand that there are clear limits to the scope of judicial power, and clear limits to the scope of federal power." The judiciary's moral authority depends on self-restraint, said McCain, and "this authority quickly vanishes when a court presumes to make law instead of apply it." The senator emphasized the importance of judicial modesty and deference to the elected branches of government, lamenting that "federal judges today issue rulings and opinions on policy...

Here’s an interesting thing that John McCain wrote about judges: “In the shorthand of constitutional discourse, these abuses by the courts fall under the heading of ‘judicial activism.’ But real activism in our country is democratic. Real activists seek to make their case democratically — to win hearts, minds and majorities to their cause. Such people throughout our history have often shown great idealism and done great good. By contrast, activist lawyers and activist judges follow a different method. They want to be spared the inconvenience of campaigns, elections, legislative votes and all of that. They don’t seek to win...

John McCain gave a speech recently on the need to appoint judges that interpret laws rather than legislate from the bench. He also took issue with "Senate obstructionism" practiced by liberals who are blocking judicial nominees. The Speech seems designed to to help McCain firm up his conservative base. But here's the problem. McCain has made it harder to confirm judicial conservatives to the bench. While McCain's speech properly chastised liberals for blocking nominees, what did he do when he had the chance to help stop them cold? Well, here he is, in his own words: "...when there were threats...

John McCain is getting catcalls for his speech on Tuesday declaring his preference for Supreme Court Justices in the mold of John Roberts and Samuel Alito.

There is no mystery to the missing lightning rods. John McCain neglects to volunteer the names of Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas as model jurists for an obvious reason. The acid-tongued Scalia and the silent-but-no-less-extreme Thomas tend to scare the sort of moderate, swing voters upon whose good will the presumptive Republican nominee's reputation as a maverick -- and chances for the White House -- rests. So the straight-talker hit the delete button on Scalia and Thomas when he gave his speech on the federal judiciary at Wake Forest University on Tuesday. He inserted instead the names...

Mr. McCain bruised his standing with conservatives on the issue when in 2005 he became a key player in the so-called gang of 14, which derailed an effort to end Democratic filibusters of Bush judicial nominees. More recently, Mr. McCain has told conservatives he would be happy to appoint the likes of Chief Justice John Roberts to the Supreme Court. But he indicated he might draw the line on a Samuel Alito, because "he wore his conservatism on his sleeve."

If a President McCain were to nominate a David Souter clone, the right’s netroots would have a collective conniption fit that would make the Miers fight look like pattycake. We might not win, but we’d at least bleed McCain of enough political capital to give even Warren Rudman second thoughts. All of which suggests that threats by conservative pundits like Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter to take their ball and go home if McCain is the nominee make no sense (and I say this as someone who has made similar rumblings in the past). The next President likely will nominate...

Remarks By John McCain on Judicial Philosophy May 6, 2008 U.S. Senator John McCain will deliver the following remarks as prepared for delivery at Wake Forest University, in Winston-Salem, NC, today at 10:00 a.m. EDT: Thank you, Ted, and thank you all very much. Dr. Hatch, I'm grateful for your invitation to this great university. And Senator Richard Burr, thank you for that warm welcome to North Carolina and to Wait Chapel. I'm honored to be here, and I brought along a friend. I'm sure you'll recognize him -- my pal, Senator FredThompson of Tennessee. We appreciate the hospitality of...

Judges: Presumptive GOP presidential nominee John McCain's pledge to appoint Supreme Court justices who will judge, not legislate, is right in itself. But it can also help energize his party base.Sen. John McCain's stated it plainly enough: The Supreme Court is at stake in this year's election. "My nominees will understand that there are clear limits to the scope of judicial power, and clear limits to the scope of federal power," McCain declared, citing Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice Samuel Alito as model nominees. More rousing, perhaps, to McCain's skeptics within his party were his references to his...