Posted on 03/06/2009 1:42:05 PM PST by SolidWood
In the past, I have supported the work of Jim Minnery, president of the Alaska Family Council. But Mr. Minnery crossed the line with his recent hit-piece, an email sent to thousands of Alaskans criticizing our new Supreme Court justice -- Superior Court Judge Morgan Christen, one of two finalists whose names had been submitted to Gov. Sarah Palin.
The governor appointed Judge Christen to the Alaska Supreme Court on Wednesday. Judge Christen is the second woman in state history to serve on the high court.
I have known Judge Christen for almost 20 years. As a mother and wife, she is an Alaskan who knows the value of life. But Mr. Minnery obviously does not know Judge Christen personally or professionally. He disgracefully attacked Christen, calling her "another activist on the Court." No Alaskan is more dedicated to family, children and Alaska's most foundational values in the U.S. and Alaskan Constitutions than Judge Christen.
Mr. Minnery's attack on Judge Christen is a disgrace to all Alaskans. I am not a liberal member of the Alaska Bar Association. I am a pro-life Christian conservative who supports Judge Christen. I wrote Mr. Minnery, expressing my disgust for his unconscionable attacks. Here is my letter:
Dear Jim Minnery:
Jim, I am sure I hold some of the same values you do.
I have supported you in the past.
I am a lifelong "pro-life" Christian.
I am "not a liberal lawyer" ... I am more conservative than 99% of Alaska's Justices, judges and attorneys.
And, probably, I am more conservative than you are.
I can assure you I know Judge Morgan Christen and her intelligence, values and integrity; she is truly exceptional.
You have done a grave disservice to the citizens of Alaska in attacking Judge Morgan Christen.
There is "no one" more fit to be on Alaska's Supreme Court than Judge Morgan Christen.
Judge Morgan Christen's personal and professional life experiences make her "uniquely" qualified for our Supreme Court.
Your "press hit piece" attack on Judge Morgan Christen is "childlike."
... and you certainly do not know "lawyers" as you should to be in a position of "family" leadership.
Sir, you do not have a clue on the "integrity, honor, commitment to life and beliefs" of Judge Morgan Christen.
You are in no position to define the fundamental beliefs of this wonderful dedicated mother, wife and exceptional public servant.
If you question my position call me at my office or at home.
You need to understand the gravity of your incompetence as it is directly related to "your purported" Christian family leadership.
I encourage you to "seek the truth" before you ever again attack Judge Morgan Christian.
You are totally unfit to even attempt to define the integrity and values of Judge Morgan Christen.
Again, I am easy to find ... you want to debate me ... name the forum ... let's address your "total lack of understanding"!!
I know Judge Morgan Christen will "forgive you" ... but it will take me a little time since I demand "trust" before forgiveness!!
Your trust must be "earned" to receive "my" forgiveness since you apparently have no concept of Biblical truth!
I suggest to apologize to all Alaskans and particularly Judge Morgan Christen for your demonstrated incompetent leadership.
I look forward to your immediate public apology to Judge Morgan Christen and all Alaskans.
Respectfully,
Wev Shea
Another non issue. What else is knew, people jumping to conclusions AGAIN without getting all the facts. What a shock...NOT
Also you guys should all watch this Charlie Rose interview that he did with Sarah..it’s AWESOME and goes in depth about “pleasing everyone”
This much is certain -- I am willing to give Sarah's choice the benefit of the doubt, precisely because Sarah had to make an executive judgment, which is exactly what you hire a Governor to do.
Yes. Exactly.
Like Sarah said to Charlie Rose, you can’t please everyone and when you have that mentality that you gotta please everyone, your gonna end up failing. I trust her judgment better then those morons in Washington. She made the right choice. Geez will this garbage ever end. First it was “Sarah is for the stimulus” nonsense and now this. Will people ever learn
Not only is Sarah PRO LIFE, but she has LIVED IT. It’s one thing to say your pro-life and its a whole other thing to actually LIVE it
FYI
I wonder if Judge Christen's position on abortion changed because of personal involvement (self, family member, friend, etc), or she took it upon herself to educate herself about the issue from all sides, etc.
Can you give any specifics about her position and/or change-of-position on abortion?
The outrage all seems so contrived, by people who don't really know the history and/or facts. I'm just wondering.
We don’t have any hard facts on her position, only this charge from Minnery has been driving the debate. Without that, there isn’t much to go on other than to trust people who know her (like the author of this piece) and Gov Palin. I did find one reference by a Catholic publication that said she is ‘pro life on everything but birth control’, that could mean a lot so I am leaving that one with a question mark...
The real issue is those who damned her as being pro-abortion and taking the charge as truth without checking..
For what reason? What has she done in her career that indicates she will be pro-life, in favor of religious freedom or anything but a leftist jurist?
If she is all of those things, those responsible for appointing and supporting her, justifiably, lose credibility.
What has she done in her life or career to support this.. all the charge that she is a 'leftist' is based on this one accusation by Minnery.. for all we know (because we don't), she is to the right of Rush.
BTW, did you read her application paperwork that has been posted on several of these threads? (the same paperwork that Palin reviewed).. It discusses strict adherence to the Constitution and sounds like something a FReeper would write.. Smith’s on the other hand, was barely legible and discussed a lot about feelings and compromise in the law.
Expect Gov P to address this soon.
Here are the two applications I mentioned, you can see exactly what Palin had to go on.
http://www.ajc.state.ak.us/Retention04/christen04.pdf
http://www.ajc.state.ak.us/Retention00/SmithE00.pdf
Thanks for the ping, Big Al. I read that letter a couple of days ago. Hope everything works out for the Governor.
Vin
“The” “writer” “of” “the” “letter” “has” “a” “real” “problem” “with” “the” “overuse” “of” “quotation” “marks” “.”
I’m tired of excuse for not doing the right thing. Palin is responsible for Christen’s actions on the court. And, she’d better step up and pushing for changing the nominating process or she isn’t qualified to be the GOP nominee for President.
Palin is gambling a lot that she rules that way.
At the very least, Palin should be fighting to reform the nomination process.
First off, if this is all about abortion, which it appears to be, one side has no clue.
A)Gov Palin just backed a parental consent law that was struck down last time by the AK SC by 1 vote. I highly doubt she’d knowingly pick a new Judge who will have a big say on whether the new attempt succeeds, who she knew was pro choice or for abortion. I mean, it just defies all common sense
B)The system is such that she had to choose between one of two and neither of them are exactly conservative superstars. Then again, at the state level and especially in Alaska you don’t really find too many Federalist Society Clarence Thomas clones. There’s a reason judges like Scalia and Thomas and Roberts and Alito and Bork and others never served at the state level. It would be like if Bush in 2005 had to choose between Souter and Breyer for Chief Justice(and now there’s word that this new Judge may be more conservative than previously thought). No one would blame him for picking one of them.
But C)Most importantly, even if the new AK SC upholds the abortion law it will immediately get appeale dto the 9th ct which is the most liberal in the country where it will be instantly struck down. So this whole thing is really a fool’s errand and much ado about nothing
But knowing what I know about her, and what most of us know about her, anyone who would think that Gov Palin would set out to do anything that would hurt the prolife cause just doesn’t know her. Her prolife credentials are second to none.
fyi - in case you got sidetracked and only read the inaccurate stories circulating about this matter.
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