Posted on 11/17/2007 11:40:51 AM PST by wagglebee
WASHINGTON - Presidential contender Rudy Giuliani has been winning over some conservative Republicans by promising to appoint judges in the mold of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and others who might seem likely to limit the reach of the Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion.
Judges he named as New York mayor, however, could never be mistaken for Scalia.
Giuliani's promise has helped overcome his abortion rights support as an issue for conservative voters. After all, the next president can do little about abortion except to name judges who interpret the law more strictly. As a result, some prominent conservatives, including televangelist Pat Robertson, have decided that Giuliani's view of judges matters most.
Giuliani was to describe his views in a speech Friday to the Federalist Society, a mainstay of the conservative legal movement that includes several members who are advising Giuliani's campaign. One of those, former Solicitor General Ted Olson, said in an interview that Giuliani needs to reach out to conservatives and reassure them. He said, "On the important issues, to the extent those issues are being controlled by judges, he will appoint the kind of people that you would like."
Giuliani's stance on judges dates to the Reagan administration, Olson said, when both men worked as senior Justice Department officials. Back then, at morning meetings and over sandwiches or pizza in the attorney general's dining room, they talked about how judges should do their jobs, Olson said.
However, years later, when Giuliani was mayor of New York, he appointed far more liberal judges.
Mostly Democrats, his appointees included an abortion-rights supporter, gay activists and a judge who ordered the city to pay for an indigent New Yorker's sex change operation, among others. Another judge argued prostitution should be redefined according to the changing cultural and sexual practices of recent decades.
To be sure, Giuliani was limited by the city's system of appointing judges. An advisory committee, controlled by Democrats, submitted candidates from which Giuliani could choose. And Giuliani has noted he was choosing municipal judges who mostly handled criminal cases, not judges who would evaluate matters of constitutional law.
"They hear ordinary criminal cases and civil cases; they're not going to be interpreting the scope of the Bill of Rights or the Establishment Clause or the First Amendment," said Northwestern University law professor Steven Calabresi, another Giuliani adviser and Federalist Society member. "Also, the other people involved in the process of making judges are going to be more liberal."
Still, rival Republican campaigns were calling attention to his record on city judges earlier this year and could do so again.
Foes also point to Giuliani comments, earlier this year, that there is no guarantee a conservative judge would overturn Roe v. Wade.
"They can look at and say, `Wrongly decided 30 years ago; whatever it is, we will overturn it,'" he told CNN in April. "They can look at it and say, `It has been the law for this period of time; therefore, we are going to respect the precedent.' Conservatives can come to that conclusion as well. I would leave it up to them. I would not have a litmus test on that."
Many anti-abortion activists are unmoved by Giuliani's promise to appoint conservative judges.
"Rudy Giuliani has not changed his position - he is running as a pro-abortion candidate; he's been consistent with that," David N. O'Steen, executive director of the National Right to Life Committee, said Tuesday, when the group endorsed Giuliani rival Fred Thompson, a former Tennessee senator.
Not that abortion is a litmus test for Giuliani; he has said judicial nominees should not decide ahead of time on future cases. His job description would seek judges who interpret the law strictly, paying attention to what lawmakers intended.
"Mayor Giuliani is committed to appointing judges who will follow the Constitution and not make up the law," said Calabresi.
Also on the society's three-day program: Scalia, fellow justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito and Chief Justice John Roberts. President Bush addressed the group Thursday.
It's an important address for Giuliani, Olson said: "It is less than a year before the election, less than two months before the primaries. These are people who are activists in the legal profession, they are people that do things, and they are very, very prominent people."
This whole "I had to appoint liberals because it was New York City" line MIGHT be plausible; however, EVERY judge that Rooty Toot appointed was a liberal that Rooty AGREES with.
Stop Rudy Ping
YAWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWNNNN!
I agree that Rudy has triangulated too much and this bothers me. However, we cannot have a discussion about abortion without a country. And if Rudy happens to get the nomination, which I am not going to vote for him in the primary, I will support him in the general election. Each conservative that stays home in November, is a half a vote for Hillary and a full vote for surrender in the GWOT.
If Hillary had an R by her name and rudy a D, these same type of people would whine “You have to vote for the R or you might get a D”.
Yep. I think that many of the Rooty Rooters secretly wish the Clintons were Republicans.
Incorrect. Each conservative vote that stays home is exactly that: a conservative vote not cast. Nothing more, nothing less.
Giuliani is a liberal, and therefore unacceptable. Period.
All we Republicans/Conservatives need do is look at ALL (not just his liberal/poor judgement concerning judges) of this liberal RINO's own words and ACTIONS, and it SHOULD (to those with intact and unmoveable core values and principles, and at least HALF a brain) be quite apparent that RINO-rudy is NOT the right man to be our REPUBLICAN President of the United States.
He needs to run as what he IS...
A LIBERAL DEMOCRAT.
It’s a valid point, but we’re also not going to have a country in the future if we keep aborting our offspring.
If one of the nightmare scenarios occur, and it’s Rudy or Hillary, well the lesser of two evils is Rudy, I believe. Will I be on him personally and through conservative groups pressuring him to do the right things? You bet.
But do I hope he’s the nominee? No way.
I will vote against Rudy in the primary and, if he somehow gets the nomination, I will vote against Rudy in the general. He isn't fit to be Commander in Chief. His weakness will lead to American losses. He is not deserving of the respect of our troops and won't receive it just as he has not received the respect of New York's first responders.
Rudy is a draft-dodging wimp and keeping him out of the WH is the most important political priority for this country.
At some point, bashing Rudy for things he could not control, may start to appear foolish.
Yep, y’all! As I’ve said so often on FR, past behavior is a good indicator of future behavior. Campaign promises often lose their luster when a candidate takes office. The only way to judge a man is by what he has done, not only by what he says he will do. The two must be the same!
One version I heard was that the commission would give him three names and he had to pick one of the three—so all he could do was the pick the least bad of the three, but they could all be liberal Democrats.
Rooty Toot believes in appointing judges who agree with him (i.e. pro-abortion, pro-militant homosexualism, pro-illegal alien, gun-grabbing leftists):
Actually each vote for Rudy is a vote to surrender the principles and values of the Republican party. This country doesn’t need the Democratic party and the Democratic lite party. If you want to vote for a New York liberal just vote for Clinton and leave the Republican party to uphold it’s conservative values and principles.
And lying about the liberal Rooty Toot is a foolish move and not good for ones health around this forum. Read on:
From the Politico: Giuliani Judges Lean Left LINK
When Giuliani took office in 1994, he inherited a system of judicial appointments created by one of his predecessors, Ed Koch, and designed to insulate the courts from political influence. Under the system, the mayor appoints members of an independent panel. Aspiring judges apply to the panel, which recommends three candidates for each vacancy. The mayor chooses among the three.
More....
A Politico review of the 75 judges Giuliani appointed to three of New York state's lower courts found that Democrats outnumbered Republicans by more than 8 to 1. One of his appointments was an officer of the International Association of Lesbian and Gay Judges. Another ruled that the state law banning liquor sales on Sundays was unconstitutional because it was insufficiently secular.
A third, an abortion-rights supporter, later made it to the federal bench in part because New York Sen. Charles E. Schumer, a liberal Democrat, said he liked her ideology.
Cumulatively, Giuilani's record was enough to win applause from people like Kelli Conlin, the head of NARAL Pro-Choice New York, the state's leading abortion-rights group. "They were decent, moderate people," she said.
"I don't think he was looking for someone who was particularly conservative," added Barry Kamins, a Democrat who chaired the panel of the Bar Association of the City of New York, which reviewed Giuliani's appointments. "He picked a variety from both sides of the spectrum. They were qualified, even-tempered, academically strong."
He can control every syllable that emanates from his lips - they are liberal and they are damning. Any REPUBLICAN that supports him is making themselves appear foolish.
Sure Ted, wasn't this also you? (emphasis added)
Just a week after the indictment of former Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik, Olson said Giuliani had shown "the wisdom and humility to surround himself with talented, dedicated and energetic people" as mayor.Kerik, Placa, Harding, and on and on... I certainly don't trust him appointing judges and prosecutors!
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