Posted on 10/11/2008 12:28:54 PM PDT by Recovering_Democrat
When asked back in a November primary debate to say what kind of Justice he would want to nominate to the Supreme Court, Barack Obama responded:
"I taught constitutional law for 10 years, and . . . when you look at what makes a great Supreme Court justice, it's not just the particular issue and how they rule, but it's their conception of the Court. And part of the role of the Court is that it is going to protect people who may be vulnerable in the political process, the outsider, the minority, those who are vulnerable, those who don't have a lot of clout. "
". . . [S]ometimes we're only looking at academics or people who've been in the [lower] court. If we can find people who have life experience and they understand what it means to be on the outside, what it means to have the system not work for them, that's the kind of person I want on the Supreme Court."
Does anyone know of additional statements Obama has made in response to the same question (or similar ones) before or since? Obama made some statements about these issues when he announced his decisions to vote against the confirmation of Chief Justice Roberts and Justice Alito, but I don't know how much else is out there.
UPDATE: Here's another statement Obama made: "We need somebody who's got the heart, the empathy, to recognize what it's like to be a young teenage mom. The empathy to understand what it's like to be poor, or African-American, or gay, or disabled, or old. And that's the criteria by which I'm going to be selecting my judges."
UPDATE: Over at Slate, Emily Bazelon suggests that Obama would want to find a confirmable candidate who would vote like a Brennan or a Thurgood Marshall: "On Obama's staff, [the] absence [of a Thurgood Marshall-type Justice] is also keenly felt. How to fix that? "We'd want a nominee who would do what John Roberts did," one staff member said. "You go through the process and say 'Hey, I'll look at each case as it comes.' You have a moderate temperament. You're affable and everybody likes you. And then you get up there, and after a year and a half, you vote on the opposite side from John Roberts in every single case where that's warranted and it matters.""
UPDATE: Commenter GMUSL'07 writes, "And this guy went to Harvard Law? This is one of the most twisted misconceptions of a Judge's role that I've ever seen." I went to Harvard Law a few years after Obama, but his view of the judge's role was by far the dominant view among the Harvard Law School faculty and student body when I was there in the mid-1990s. Those that questioned this view were generally told that they should join the Federalist Society — and the Federalist Society had very few members.
No government overreach will be too grand, no citizen right will be too small to be trampled upon.
Ayers or Wright or some other Socialist terrorist.
You can kiss your freedom goodbye. You can kiss Freedom of Speech goodbye; you can kiss America goodbye along with your rear end. Nazi Germany has been reborn.
Bernadine Dohrn?
If he has a sense of humor, perhaps Anita Hill?
Someone to the left of Ruth Buzzie Ginsberg.
hillary clinton
Don’t go all “Bill Ayres” on us!
Bill Clinton.
Thereby, keeping Hillary from challenging Obama in 2012.
And how many Communists, Muslims and terrorists would he appoint to other government positions?
“Narcissists are often callous and even ruthless. As the norm, they lack conscience. Narcissists are amoral. They consider themselves to be above the law. Once in power, they will try to strengthen their hold by surrounding themselves with equally amoral people.”
Understanding Obama: The Making of a Fuehrer, By Ali Sina
http://www.faithfreedom.org/obama.html
Call McCain on his election tactics/Spread the word to MSM:
CALLING OBAMA A RESPECTABLE FAMILY MAN THAT WE NEED NOT FEAR IS OUTRAGEOUS!
McCAIN TAKING THE ABUSE AND INSULTS FROM OBAMA AND REFUSING TO FIGHT BACK IS OUTRAGEOUS!
WE’RE NOT TURNING THE WHITE HOUSE KEYS OVER TO BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA- NOT IF WE ON FR, RUSH, HANNITY AND FOX HAVE ANYTHING TO DO WITH IT!
FReep McCAIN/ MSM OUT.
HOW LONG CAN THEY IGNORE A MILLION EMAILS??
.
McCain is losing this campaign because he refuses to fight Obama and his lies, and dirty tactics such as ACORN voter fraud. He’s just been rolling over (or bending over, I should say) and accepting the abuse heaped upon him- and expecially Sarah Palin.
The anemic attempts by the McCain camp to fight back within the last few days just ain’t gonna get it.
He should have been hitting Obama back hard months ago.
He needs to get out there every day and FIGHT BACK.
Email Republican headquarters/McCain.
FReep ‘EM OUT!
CAN THEY IGNORE A MILLION EMAILS?
REMIND McCAIN THAT HE HAS AN OBLIGATION AS OUR CANDIDATE TO FIGHT BACK!
To h*ll with bipartisian BS!
To h*ll with PC!
To h*ll with ‘conducting a respectful campaign’as McCain has said, and vowed to do.
RESPECTFUL CAMPAIGNING WENT STRAIGHT OUT THE WINDOW WITH OBAMA’S NASTY, BRUTAL COMMENTS SUCH AS;
‘lipstick on a pig’ and ‘You can wrap AN OLD FISH in a piece of paper called change. It’s still going to stink after eight years.’
Take off the gloves, McCain!
Hit the Marxist/Muslim hard with Ayers, Acorn, Violation of Logan Act, abortion, 2nd admendment, Campaigning for Odinga!!
Get off the d*mned economy issue. State that Obama/Democrats/ACORN caused this meltdown. State McCain offered a proposal to avert the meltdown and GET OFF IT.
Obama is counting on keeping this going to take the spotlight off his sordid past and dirty dealings!
NOTHING is more important than waking America up to this Marxist/Muslim!! DO IT. EXPOSE HIM!
FReep ‘EM!!!!
MCCAIN/REPUBLICAN PARTY
Fax: 202-228-2862
SEND A FAX FREE: https://faxzero.com/
rickdavis@johnmccain.com, ameese@mccain08hq.com, anickel@mccain08hq.com,
johnmccain@gop.com, info@gop.com,
RNCommunications@gop.com, Chairman@gop.com, Political@gop.com
info@McCainPalinVictory2008.com
Meghan McCain http://mccainblogette.com/contact/
THE CONSERVATIVE ACTIVIST’S
(all the Republican movers and shakers)
GIANT E-MAIL LINKS PAGE!
http://www.conservativeusa.org/megalink.htm
.
IMPORTANT
Be sure to add your name and town and email - or they won’t read them.
When emailing. they won’t read mass emails so put just one email add in the “to” line then click on BBC at the end of that line. a BCC line will open just above subject line. copy paste the rest of the addresses in there and each recipient will see ONLY their name.
A list of some possible Obama candidates:
1. Akhil Reed Amar (Professor at Yale)
2. Lawrence Tribe (Professor at Harvard)
3. Jed Rakoff (Judge, Southern District of New York)
4. Helene White (Judge, Sixth Circuit)
5. David S. Tatel (Judge DC Circuit)
6. Merrick B. Garland (Judge DC Circuit)
7. Robert Bell (Chief Judge, Maryland Court of Appelas)
8. Seth P. Waxman (Former Solicitor General)
9. Richard N. Palmer (Judge Conn. Supreme Court (authot of gay marriage opinion)
10. Dana Fabe (Chief Judge, Alaska Supreme Court)
Jennifer Rubin wrote an excellent essay on this subject mater:
What Kind of Justice Would President Obama Mete Out?
"Now there’s going to be those 5 percent of cases or 1 percent of cases where the law isn’t clear. And the judge then has to bring in his or her own perspectives, his ethics, his or her moral bearings. And in those circumstances, what I do want is a judge who is sympathetic enough to those who are on the outside, those who are vulnerable, those who are powerless, those who can’t have access to political power and as a consequence can’t protect themselves from being — from being dealt with sometimes unfairly. That the courts become a refuge for justice. That’s been its historic role. That was its role in Brown v. Board of Education."
Obama’s appointees will make Ruth Ginsberg look like a right-winger.
It would be racist to compare it to JFK appointing his brother to Justice.
-PJ
And on a different subject,
I’m surprised you don’t see more asaults on folks like Ms. Ginzberg, Barney Frank, Murtha etc.
I’m not advocating this, I’m just thinking of what Sandra Day said. That jurists are above criticism.
Thinking of how the media says Republicans are an angry bunch of racists clinging to their guns.
Still very few actual murders, assaults, torchings or (my favorite) public stoning in the public square.
I know I’d not lose sleep if “Ruth Buzzie” were placed in public stocks and passersby threw garbage and a a few stones her way.
Hillary will get the court and Bill will get the UN
Ward Churchill.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.