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In his opening statement, Senator Richard Durbin of Illinois (D) set forth what he called his “test for a Supreme Court nominee.” It was not “where he stands on any one specific issue”—no litmus tests for the gentleman from Illinois.

Earley got it way, way wrong here. Durbin's a gentleman like I'm a potted plant.

While this is high-sounding rhetoric, it is not the job of a Supreme Court justice to “expand freedom.” His job is to interpret and apply the Constitution and federal law.

Hear, hear! All judges should hold unswervingly to the Roberts rule...the Constitution says whether the big guy or little guy wins. Durbin just wants to expand license, not freedom. For those members of our government whose job is to expand freedom, see the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines.

There are links to further information at the source document, including the text of Senator ~~Eddie Haskell's~~ Durbin's opening staement and Mill's On Liberty.

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It’s impossible to imagine decisions like Roe, Casey, and Lawrence without Mill. The “mystery passage” in Casey, which defines liberty as the right to define “one’s own concept” of “existence,” and “the mystery of human life,” is straight out of Mill. The idea that government should be neutral, not only in matters of religion, but in most moral matters, has nothing to do with the Founders and everything to do with Mill.

Interesting. Perhaps the esteemed author can point to us where in the Constitution the Framers intended for the federal government to be the final say in matters of morality. As a matter of fact, Madison had something to say about that in Federalist #45

Freedom - # S: (n) freedom (the condition of being free; the power to act or speak or think without externally imposed restraints)

Liberty - # S: (n) autonomy, liberty (immunity from arbitrary exercise of authority: political independence)
# S: (n) liberty (freedom of choice) "liberty of opinion"; "liberty of worship"; "liberty--perfect liberty--to think or feel or do just as one pleases"; "at liberty to choose whatever occupation one wishes"
# S: (n) liberty (personal freedom from servitude or confinement or oppression)
# S: (n) shore leave, liberty (leave granted to a sailor or naval officer)
# S: (n) familiarity, impropriety, indecorum, liberty (an act of undue intimacy)

For those members of our government whose job is to expand freedom, see the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines.

It s no more the job of the Armed Forces to 'expand' freedom than it is for the President of the United States to 'define' freedom from speech to speech. The Armed Forces may defend freedom, but its very existence is God given. The Framers understood I receive no rights or freedoms from the government.

Granted the Framers understood freedom and liberty as it pertains to morality. But they also understood 'the powers reserved to the several States will extend to all the objects which, in the ordinary course of affairs, concern the lives, liberties, and properties of the people, and the internal order, improvement, and prosperity of the State' and not 537 elected hacks or 8 judicial statists (Justice Thomas exempted as he seems to understand the rights of the respective and sovereign states)

Conservatives (non-Republican) are just as concerned with the nomination of Alito and confirmation of Roberts as others are.

While this is high-sounding rhetoric, it is not the job of a Supreme Court justice to “expand freedom.” His job is to interpret and apply the Constitution and federal law.

Well there's one Justice that understands that at least. The rest seem to side with the federal government when it suits their need.