Posted on 09/09/2004 6:09:19 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
HOUSTON (Reuters) - A study of thousands of federal court cases has found that judges appointed by President Bush (news - web sites) are the most conservative on record in the areas of civil rights and civil liberties.
The study's authors say the re-election of Bush would give U.S. courts a strong rightward tilt that could last for years.
"If Bush wins re-election you're going to have a very conservative judiciary," University of Houston political scientist Robert Carp said on Thursday. "An average president puts in about a third of the federal judiciary in two terms, so this really is a watershed year in terms of what happens."
Carp along with Kenneth Manning of the University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth and Ronald Stidham from Appalachian State University looked at federal court decisions in the Federal Supplement's database of 70,000 cases and categorized them as "liberal" or "conservative" based on case content.
They found that Republican appointees issued liberal rulings in about a third of their cases while Democrats did so 45 percent to 50 percent of the time.
But in civil rights and civil liberties cases -- abortion, gay rights, freedom of speech, right to privacy, race relations, for example -- Bush judges made liberal decisions only 26.5 percent of the time.
That was well below 37.9 percent for appointees of Richard Nixon, 32.3 percent for Ronald Reagan (news - web sites) and 32.2 percent for George H.W. Bush, all fellow Republican presidents.
Appointees of Democrats Lyndon Johnson, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton (news - web sites) gave liberal rulings, respectively, 58.1 percent, 51.3 percent and 42 percent of the time in the same types of cases.
"George W. Bush is the most conservative president that we have data for," Karp said. "In civil rights and liberties cases, his judges were 25 percent more conservative than those of other Republicans."
When Bush became president in January 2001, following two terms in office by Democrat Clinton, 51 percent of federal judges were Democratic appointees versus 49 percent Republican.
On average, Carp said, presidents get to name about 17 percent of the federal judiciary during a four-year term. Sometimes the number is higher -- Reagan named about 50 percent of the judges during his eight years in office, and the study said his "impact on the judicial branch continues to be substantial."
The study was published in Judicature, the publication of the American Judicature Society, a nonpartisan organization of judges, lawyers and others involved in justice administration.
About 26.5 percent too often.
Spare me their judgements on cases as liberal or conservative. Junk science.
This is my #2 reason to support GWB in 2004. And support him firmly.
#1 is national security.
Cheers,
Richard F.
Every one of Bush's judicial nominees are experienced and intelligent candidates, fully deserving of confirmation. The 'Rat filibusters are inexcusable.
Well an average president doesn't have to face an unconstitutional filibuster; my [uninformed] guess is that his appointments are far below Reagan's or Clinton's after 4 years...
So what they are saying is that Bush's judges follow the constitution more than previous presidents.
And the problem is?
(FR) Nando Media/Christian Science Mon. Feb. 20, 1999 9:30 a.m. EST By WARREN RICHEY
"Clinton judges are ideologically moderate and were generally not picked for their ideological qualifications," says Robert Carp, a political science professor at the University of Houston"
So Robert, you're claiming you were an idiot in 2001 and aren't any more?
http://csmonitor.com/cgi-bin/durableRedirect.pl?/durable/2001/01/18/fp1s1-csm.shtml
"...With the Senate split 50-50, some sort of compromise seems likely. "Either he'll have to appoint moderates, or work out a deal - so many conservative appointments in exchange for so many moderates and liberals," says Carp."
(c) Copyright 2001. The Christian Science Publishing Society
Plain and simple: I DON'T WANT JUDICIAL ACTIVISTS ON THE BENCH! Especially LIBERAL stooges who do the bidding of the DNC.
The study's authors say the re-election of Bush would give U.S. courts a strong rightward tilt that could last for years.
And the problem with this is.....?
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