Posted on 04/30/2009 3:06:26 AM PDT by Cindy
President Obama has made a number of controversial appointments during his first 100 days in office, but perhaps none more so than activist judge and ACLU alumnus David Hamilton. In a nomination that may be voted on as early as this week, the president has chosen Hamilton to sit on the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, an important Chicago-based bench whose jurisdiction extends over Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin. The appointment serves as an early warning that Obama’s judicial nominees, presented as “moderates,” will be anything but.
Born in 1957, Hamilton began his judicial career when he was nominated by President Bill Clinton for a District Court in Indiana. It was a controversial choice: Hamilton had no previous judicial experience and the American Bar Association rated him as “not qualified.” Nevertheless, a compliant US Senate approved the selection and Hamilton took his position in October 1994.
During his tenure as a federal judge, Hamilton issued a number of disturbing rulings. In November 2005, for example, he ruled that the Indiana State Legislature should not be permitted to open its sessions with Christian prayers. Hamilton wrote that such prayers violate the First Amendment and ordered that all invocations offered in that body should “refrain from using Christ’s name or title.” Hamilton argued that using such terms would amount to promoting the Christian religion and thus run afoul of the First Amendment: "All are free to pray as they wish in their own houses of worship or in other settings. Those who wish to participate in a practice of official prayer must be willing to stay within constitutional bounds.”
But while Hamilton judged the use of Christ’s name to be unlawfully “sectarian,” he Hamilton saw no problem if a Muslim cleric should choose to invoke the name of “Allah.” Hamilton offered this tortured reasoning to justify this conclusion:
The Arabic word “Allah” is used for “God” in Arabic translations of Jewish and Christian scriptures. If those offering prayers in the Indiana House of Representatives choose to use the Arabic Allah, the Spanish Dios, the German Gott, the French Dieu, the Swedish Gud, the Greek Theos, the Hebrew Elohim, the Italian Dio, or any other language’s terms in addressing the God...[T]he court sees little risk that the choice of language would advance a particular religion or disparage others.
Thus, if Hamilton had his way, it would be perfectly legal to invoke “Allah,” but it would be a violation of the Constitution to use the name of Christ in the Indiana General Assembly. Not everyone agreed with this preferential conclusion. Indeed, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals – the very court for which Hamilton now stands nominated – overturned his decision.
The 2005 case was not Hamilton’s first contentious ruling.
(Read More at the article link.)
Article Link:
http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=84E53DD2-9206-4963-8341-10681B93FCBB
Unfortunately, this is a story that is going to be repeated again and again and with Specter’s “Magic Leap” to the dark side there is little that can be done.
Specter never did a “magic leap” he always was — a liberal at heart and in most of his deeds.
If our normal word for “God” were “Allah” (as it actually is in some Arabic Christian churches, since that’s what the Arabic word means), his reasoning might pass muster. But it’s not; in our culture, “Allah” is sort of a proprietary title owned by the Muslims, and nobody thinks of anything but Islam when they hear it.
Interestingly, the Muslims in Malaysia are trying to force Malay-speaking Christians to stop using the word “Allah,” which is their normal word for “God,” because they want it to refer to Islam alone.
Yes, the jihadis are fond of saying, “There is no god, but Allah.”
As a born-again Christian, I’ll just have to respectfully disagree.
You are absolutely right, it's going to get worse and worse. Don't forget, this guy is being put into a position where he can undo our constitutional liberties. Given his history, would you rather put your fate in this man's hands or on the turn of a coin?
Before this administration is over we will all be praying for the objectivity of the law probabilities
Oh boy. Only 52 years old. He could be on the bench for 13 more years at least. At least he is not going to the Supreme Court. That is where I am more worried.
LOL, hence the 'magic' part. Here in PA, we've long known him to be Rino. We long hoped he'd make the leap - or be voted out - and clear the seat for a (hopefully) real republican, instead of the Rino voting with dems time after time.
Note: The following post is a quote:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2249008/posts
Judge Hamilton’s confirmation to 7th Circuit Court should be stopped
The Fort Wayne News-Sentinal ^ | May. 11, 2009 | Douglas Wellman
Posted on May 11, 2009 8:12:39 PM PDT by Clintonfatigued
The nomination of Judge David Hamilton by President Obama to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals should concern all Americans. His nomination raises several issues that should run up the red flag for any American who loves his country and believes in constitutional government.
The first problem with Hamilton is that when he was appointed in 1994 by then-President Clinton, the American Bar Association rated him as unqualified.
Judge Hamilton used to be a fund-raiser for ACORN, an acronym and an organization that have become synonymous with voter fraud.
Judge Hamilton served on the board of the ACLU, a group which was founded by self-proclaimed communist Roger Baldwin, who stated, “I will turn the United States into a worker state using civil rights as the vehicle.” Baldwin also stated he “would stand with Russia against the world.” Hamilton also served as the ACLU’s litigation director.
Judge Hamilton ruled that starting the sessions of the Indiana Legislature with prayer was unconstitutional. This despite the fact that it had been an ongoing tradition for 188 years. And it had been going on since day one in the U.S. Congress and never raised constitutional issues with any of the founders.
In addition, he ruled that prayers offered in the name of Jesus, Jesus Christ, the Savior, and/or the Son were unconstitutional. He had no problem, though, with prayers being offered in the name of Allah.
He held up an Indiana law that required abortion providers to inform clients of alternatives to abortion for seven years. He was overturned by the 7th Circuit to which he has been nominated.
It has become increasingly clear that the progressives in America are using the courts to advance an agenda they obviously are unable to advance through the legislative process - the only process authorized
(Excerpt) Read more at news-sentinel.com ...
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