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Bush-appointed Judges Most Conservative On Record, New UH Study Finds
Medical News Today ^ | 2/7/06

Posted on 02/07/2006 9:14:03 PM PST by LdSentinal

Judges appointed by President George W. Bush are the most conservative on record when it comes to civil rights and liberties, according to a new study by a political science professor at the University of Houston.

Bush judicial appointees are significantly more conservative than even the very conservative voting record of jurists appointed by Presidents Ronald Reagan and Bush Sr. in the realm of civil rights and liberties, said Robert Carp, professor of political science at UH. When it comes to these decisions, the Bush team is a full 5 percentage points more conservative than even the trial judges appointed by Presidents Reagan and Bush Sr.

"Liberal" judges would generally seek in their rulings to extend the freedoms of abortion, gay rights, the rights of women and minorities and freedom of speech, Carp explained. "Conservative" jurists, by contrast, would prefer to limit such rights.

In a previous study that was released in August 2004, Carp and his team of researchers predicted that if Bush was re-elected that year, the federal judiciary could take on an even sharper conservative slant. At the time, Bush's judicial appointees delivered liberal decisions 27.9 percent of the time in cases involving civil liberties and rights. For this latest study, researchers analyzed more data, and the figure has dropped to 27.2 percent.

"Our findings are significant because the general consensus is that President Reagan is the most modern conservative president on record, and yet the judges appointed by George W. Bush are even more conservative than the Reagan judges," said Carp, the study's lead investigator.

The new study, "The Voting Behavior of George W. Bush's Judges: How Sharp a Turn to the Right?," also found that only 33 percent of decisions handed down by Bush jurists were liberal. Presidents Johnson, Carter, and Clinton, scored 52, 51, and 44 percent, respectively. His GOP predecessors, Nixon, Ford, Reagan and Bush Sr., ranked 38, 43, 36, and 37 percent, respectively. The overall scores of the Bush judges are not "off the charts" in their level of conservatism, but they are sharply right of center.

"As the Supreme Court becomes somewhat more conservative with the appointment of Justice Alito and as more Bush judges are appointed to the policy-making appellate courts, the overall tone of the judiciary should be more conservative three years from now than it is today," he speculated.

Carp's research also found that the minorities and women whom Bush has appointed to the bench are somewhat more liberal in their voting patterns than the white males he has appointed to the bench.

In the earlier study, the voting record of the Bush judges in the area of Labor and Economic regulation was fairly moderate. The latest study that relies on a larger data set indicates that the Bush judges are very conservative in this issue area as well and could not be called "moderate" in their voting behavior.

The data on trial court decisions were taken from a database consisting of more than 75,0000 opinions published in the Federal Supplement by almost 1,800 judges from 1933 through the fall of 2005. Included in this overall data set were 795 decisions handed down by judges appointed by President George W. Bush.

The research findings appear in a chapter of the book "Principles and Practice of American Politics: Classic and Contemporary Readings, Third Edition" (forthcoming, July 2006) published by CQ Press. Analysis was conducted by Carp and political scientists Kenneth L. Manning, University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth, and Ronald Stidham, Appalachian State University.

CQ Press, a division of Congressional Quarterly Inc., is a private, independent publishing firm based in Washington, D.C., that produces college and reference works on government and politics.


TOPICS: News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: alito; bush; judges; liberalwhining; reagan
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1 posted on 02/07/2006 9:14:08 PM PST by LdSentinal
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To: LdSentinal

You mean a conservative appointed conservatives? What a whacky idea!


2 posted on 02/07/2006 9:16:07 PM PST by Holicheese (Sold my house in MA. Another Yankee moving to NC!)
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To: LdSentinal; Howlin

3 posted on 02/07/2006 9:17:51 PM PST by Southack (Media Bias means that Castro won't be punished for Cuban war crimes against Black Angolans in Africa)
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To: LdSentinal

Funny things happen when you win an election.


4 posted on 02/07/2006 9:19:36 PM PST by Third Order
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To: Holicheese
Let me be the first to add the perfunctory "Bush is not a conservative"...post.
5 posted on 02/07/2006 9:19:37 PM PST by zarf (It's time for a college football playoff system.)
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To: LdSentinal
Conservative judges will be Bush's legacy. Not a bad one to have but every judge now will be a real fight thanks to the darn Rinos.
6 posted on 02/07/2006 9:19:38 PM PST by ncountylee (Dead terrorists smell like victory)
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To: LdSentinal
The best part is that he has almost three years to go.
7 posted on 02/07/2006 9:20:25 PM PST by jazusamo (A Progressive is only a Socialist in a transparent disguise.)
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To: LdSentinal

Bush's fault! ;)


8 posted on 02/07/2006 9:21:06 PM PST by TheBigB (Just got my SUPER BOWL CHAMPION PITTSBURGH STEELERS shirt..and there ain't an asterisk to be found!)
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To: TheBigB
How do we tell if a judge made a conservative decision on civil rights?
9 posted on 02/07/2006 9:23:11 PM PST by bybybill (If the Rats win, we are doomed)
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To: LdSentinal

Sounds good to me!


10 posted on 02/07/2006 9:23:51 PM PST by bushinohio
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To: LdSentinal

No matter what you think of Bush, ya gotta tank him for his appointments. And, hopefully, he'll get at least one more SCOTUS pick.


11 posted on 02/07/2006 9:24:23 PM PST by umgud (uncompassionate conservative)
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To: jazusamo

just two for all intents and purposes


12 posted on 02/07/2006 9:26:31 PM PST by rwfromkansas (http://xanga.com/rwfromkansas)
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To: LdSentinal
""Liberal" judges would generally seek in their rulings to extend the freedoms of abortion, gay rights, the rights of women and minorities and freedom of speech, Carp explained. "Conservative" jurists, by contrast, would prefer to limit such rights."

Let me guess. Carp is a lefty.
13 posted on 02/07/2006 9:26:35 PM PST by Texas_Jarhead
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To: LdSentinal
"Liberal" judges would generally seek in their rulings to extend the freedoms of abortion, gay rights, the rights of women and minorities and freedom of speech, Carp explained. "Conservative" jurists, by contrast, would prefer to limit such rights.

CORRECTION..."Liberal" judges would generally seek in their rulings to extend the freedoms of abortion, gay rights, the rights of women and minorities and freedom of speech, Carp explained. "Conservative" jurists, by contrast, would prefer to not make up rights and laws, properly leaving such fabrications to be handled by the legislature.

14 posted on 02/07/2006 9:27:42 PM PST by highlander_UW (I don't know what my future holds, but I know Who holds my future)
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To: LdSentinal

I hope Harriet Miers gets her due in this; she has been instrumental in selecting this broad swath of conservative judges.


15 posted on 02/07/2006 9:29:34 PM PST by Siena Dreaming
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To: jazusamo

I have wondered whether Rehnquist's refusal to resign was not to help Bush politically, rather to provoke other tired old justices into retiring with less guilt about giving up their seat to a conservative. (In other words, he was faking his intention to get past the Bush presidency...)


16 posted on 02/07/2006 9:30:03 PM PST by SteveMcKing
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To: LdSentinal

Correct me if I'm wrong here TX freepers, but isn't Houston Texas' lib-tard bastion???


17 posted on 02/07/2006 9:30:07 PM PST by stm (It's possible to fix most things, but you can't fix stupid)
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To: LdSentinal
Judges appointed by President George W. Bush are the most conservative on record when it comes to civil rights and liberties

They say that like it's a bad thing.

18 posted on 02/07/2006 9:30:39 PM PST by txroadkill (Are you a Texas Freeper?? Click my handle to find out.)
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To: rwfromkansas
True. I know he has some nominees in the works right now and there are still some vacancies. It will be interesting to see what will happen with the Dems filibuster.
19 posted on 02/07/2006 9:32:13 PM PST by jazusamo (A Progressive is only a Socialist in a transparent disguise.)
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To: LdSentinal
...the overall tone of the judiciary should be more conservative three years from now than it is today

Yes! Hopefully that means fewer cases will be heard by the Supreme Court. The Supremes can spend their time overturning cases from the 9th circus.

20 posted on 02/07/2006 9:32:21 PM PST by DuckFan4ever (Defeat Kulongoski in '06.)
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