Judicial Sleight of Hand

Campus Report ^ | July 7, 2009 | Brittany Fortier

[bs9021]

Judicial Sleight of Hand

by: Brittany Fortier, July 06, 2009

Judge David Hamilton of the Southern District of Indiana, who has been nominated by the Obama administration to serve on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, proposes to bring an even more activist approach to the federal judiciary.

For example, in A Woman’s Choice v. Newman, Hamilton issued an injunction against an Indiana law requiring abortion clinics to give women information about alternatives to abortion and requiring an 18-hour waiting period before obtaining an abortion, Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., points out. He called Hamilton’s ruling “questionable,” while the Seventh Circuit characterized Hamilton’s ruling as “an abuse of discretion.” In Hinrichs v. Bosma, in which the Judge enjoined the Chaplain of Indiana’s House of Representatives from invoking the name of Jesus Christ during prayers offered at official proceedings but later decreed that invoking the name of Allah was nonsectarian, Sen. Inhofe added. Inhofe described this ruling as “extremely naive and dangerous.”

The Seventh Circuit declined to rule on Hamilton’s Establishment Clause analysis, instead reversing the case due to the plaintiff’s lack of standing.

According to the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), “Despite an American Bar Association (ABA) rating of ‘not qualified,’ Hamilton was confirmed to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana by the Senate on October 7, 1994.” ACLJ notes that the ABA changed their rating of Hamilton to “well qualified” more recently when Hamilton was nominated to the Seventh Circuit ...

[OneWingedShark]

Question: Why aren’t idiots like that being chased by people carrying big sticks? (or boom-sticks.)

I mean here’s a guy who prohibits free exercise of religion (ie, the Chaplain; if the Chaplain [or his religion] was not welcome then he shouldn’t have been invited, either to officiate, or to attend.)

As if that weren’t bad enough, this guy turns around and endorses another religion with his official capacity; tell me which is it, are we allowed to have religion or not?

Here’s a guy who slaps down a law which does not outlaw abortions, but rather places a waiting-period on the action which is inarguably a BIG decision... but further, the waiting period was less than that for buying firearms legally in some states!