Replies

Thank you President Bush, yes, no litmus test for the Republicans and for Life, yep, just appoint pro-abortion judges as Clinton did. I know, don't waste your political clout on NJ since it's a hopeless cause with Corzine and Torricelli in control and NO Real Republican Leader in the State--Let the Children suffer because of Politics.

Course, you make no mention of the fact that Bush's executive orders have been the first EVER (even including Reagan) to actually REDUCE abortions. There are four separate EOs that have specifically reduced the # of abortions on military bases; without parental consent; in cases of UN aid (via funding); and there was a fourth I recall early on, but can't put my finger on it now.

Moreover, no mention of whether these judges are "strict constructionists," whose JUDICIAL views would take precedence over their PERSONAL views.

I am ignorant on the suject of New Jersey local politics. What makes you sure that all 5 appointees are Pro-Abortion?

Please post the correct title and support your accusations.

Rather than lining up to oppose abortion policy over your posting, I find my mind trying to nail down your agenda, Coleus. Are you a libertarian by chance?

Ah now, let's not be too hard on President Bush. He's Republican, dontchaknow, and therefore it's ok for him to appoint pro-death judges. As long as those nasty ol' Democrats don't do it.

Yes, it's starting to happen!

I guess I got that wrong. I thought it said pro-life rather than pro-death.

My mistake.

Bush has written off NJ politically, so he does not want to waste any of his "political capital" here in NJ. And given the fact that NJ has two Democrat Senators, he will have a hard time getting them to approve any pro-life candidate.

Federal judicial appointments are usually controlled by the senator(s) of a given state, but if they are both Democrats, then the ranking Republican in the state gets to make the calls, but there is a huge power vacuum in the NJ Republican Party right now -- no one's really in charge.

So, Bush cut a deal with the Democrats a year or so ago. Under its terms, the Democrats get to pick every other judge, and they get to disapprove the ones that Bush picks. In other words, the Democrats get to control 100% of the NJ appointments. This deal allows Bush to ignore what's going on in NJ, but still to get judges confirmed in NJ.

The Democrats agreed not to block his appointments, but he had to agree to let them make every other appointment, and to "vet" his appointments. Thus, no one gets on the federal bench in NJ unless the Dems say so -- which means that we will keep seeing more of the same type of judge (all pro-abortion). But those who are nominated breeze through the confirmation process very easily. (The five who were just confirmed had been rushed through the process BEFORE the elections, something that was not happening anywhere else in the country.) It is doubtful that there will be any change in this arrangement until either (a) the Democrats lose one of the Senate seats or (b) some Republican emerges as the clear victor within the party in NJ and lays claim to the appointment power.

The deal may relate only to district court judges (trial level federal judges) and may not apply to circuit court judges (appellate level federal judges). Nobody really does not know at this present time.

What about Bush's appointment of pro-lifers to the bench? Unfortunately, Bush never committed to this, contrary to the wishful thinking of pro-lifers who were not carefully reading his lips during the 2000 campaign. Bush said something like this, "I will appoint people who will follow the Constitution instead of interpreting it any way they want."

After the election battle left Republicans with only a narrow margin in the Senate (before Jeffords defected and things got even worse), Bush and his administration decided to concentrate on appointments at the appellate level, and not to waste "political capital" on battles on the trial court level.

In any event, rumors have it that it will be a cold day in hell before a known pro-lifer will get a nomination from this administration. So much for appointing pro-lifers to the bench! Although Bush has done some good pro-life things, he and his advisors are still very much adherents of the Republicrat/political school.

Martini named Federal Judge... President Bush yesterday nominated former Congressman William Martini as a U.S. Federal Court Judge. Martini served as a Repubican Congressman from Passaic and Essex counties from 1995 to 1997, and is a former Passaic County Freeholder and Clifton Councilman. He defeated freshman Democratic Rep. Herb Klein in the anti-Clinton 1994 elections, but lost his seat two years later to Democrat Bill Pascrell, Jr. Martini's confirmation will open up his seat on the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to the McGreevey administration. (01/24/02)

http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-1/1021108202131424.xml
Bill Martini (64), Appointed Federal Judge

White House readies relief for U.S. District Court in Jersey

Three new candidates for prestigious posts join two others awaiting formal nomination

Saturday, May 11, 2002

BY ROBERT RUDOLPH
Star-Ledger Staff

A judicial manpower crisis that has plagued the federal courts may soon be over in New Jersey with the pending nomination of three candidates to seats on the U.S. District Court.

Knowledgeable political and legal insiders say a political logjam that had stalled the confirmation of two pending nominees to the bench is expected to be broken shortly when the White House formally nominates the candidates.

Sources confirmed yesterday that the three new candidates, who include one Democrat, one Independent and one Republican, have already been contacted by the White House and notified of the Bush administration's "intention to nominate" them to the prestigious judicial posts.

Along with two other stalled nominations, it will mark the largest number of federal judicial vacancies ever filled at one time in New Jersey.

The move will help end the largest federal judicial manpower crush in the state in three decades -- the result of several judges stepping down or going on senior status. The situation had threatened to delay the processing of cases, and had already compelled some judges to work seven-day weeks.

The three new candidates have been identified as U.S. Magistrate Freda Wolfson, a Democrat, who sits in Trenton; U.S. Magistrate Robert Kugler, an Independent, who sits in Camden; and state Superior Court Judge Jose Linares, a Republican, who sits in Newark.

The Bush Administration had already passed the names of former Rep. William Martini and sitting U.S. Magistrate Stanley Chesler, both Republicans, to the Senate, but no action has been taken yet to confirm the appointments.

New Jersey's two U.S. senators, Robert Torricelli and Jon Corzine, both Democrats, have practical veto power over the nominations and had agreed to support the Bush candidates only on condition that the White House give them a voice in filling the additional three vacancies.

The senators have maintained that New Jersey is a Democratic state with a Democratic governor and two Democratic senators, so its judges should be picked, at least in part, by Democrats.

Kugler is the son of former New Jersey Attorney General George Kugler, a Republican, and had previously worked as an assistant Camden County prosecutor.

Wolfson is the wife of Douglas K. Wolfson, the newly appointed director of the Division of Law in the state Attorney General's Office, and has served as a federal magistrate since 1986.

Linares is the first Cuban-American judge in Essex County.

Kugler, Wolfson and Linares could not be reached for comment.

Martini is a former member of the Clifton City Council and the Passaic County Board of Freeholders. He was an assistant Hudson County prosecutor and an assistant U.S. attorney, and he served one term in the House before losing to William Pascrell in 1996. Martini represented the 8th Congressional District.

Chesler, who sits in Newark, has been a magistrate since 1987, when he was nominated by President Ronald Reagan. He previously served as a federal prosecutor in New Jersey investigating organized crime from 1980 to 1986.

Torricelli press secretary Debra DeShong refused to confirm the names of the three new candidates, but said, "Senators Torricelli and Corzine have been working very closely with the White House to ensure that the nominees reflect the ethnic, gender and geographical diversity of our state."

Alfred DeCotiis, a prominent attorney active in Democratic political circles, said the breakthrough "augers well for a strong and effective judiciary which will reflect the true face of New Jersey."

Donald A. Robinson, a former president of the state federal bar association, also hailed the elevation of the three judges to the district court, noting that the trio have proven to be "experienced, highly competent judges already."

Robinson said the state boasts the highest number of magistrates in the nation who have been promoted to the district bench, and added that the post has proven a valuable training ground.

The district court in New Jersey is divided into three venues: Newark, Trenton and Camden. Ten active judges sit in Newark, three in Trenton and four in Camden. In addition, there are seven senior judges. Judges who reach 65 are allowed to remain on the bench, keeping their office and staff while handling reduced caseloads.

Hello! I'm a first timer, be gentle!

We shouldn't be single issue supporters. There may be a difference between "Pro-abortion" and supporting legal precedent. We need to be consistent re litmus tests. Also, to put the issue of abortion to bed for good, we need law enacted to make abortion illegal except for very strictly defined situations, and then test it's constitionality with a mostly conservative Supreme court. If truly viewed strictly, I don't believe a conservative Court can read a right to an Abortion into the Constitution.

Can anyone explain why Toricelli is mentioned in this article?

The Bush Family Secret
http://www.all.org/news/bushad2.pdf
A Catholic Response to Bush's Stem Cell Decision
http://www.all.org/abac/rf001.htm
http://www.all.org/issues/broken.htm
Do We Have A Pro-Life President?
http://www.all.org/celebrate_life/cl0107d.htm
http://www.house.gov/burton/RSC/word/Akin.PDF
http://www.all.org/stopp/rr0210.htm
other
http://www.all.org/stopp/rr0103.htm
http://www.all.org/stopp/rr0205.pdf

Bttt

`

President Bush Stop Appointing PRO-ABORTION JUDGES!!

http://www.nj.com/search/index.ssf?/base/news-2/1042614649315360.xml?starledger

Journey leads to federal Bench

Wednesday, January 15, 2003

BY JOHN P. MARTIN
Star-Ledger Staff

Jose Linares was 7 years old when Cuban police jailed his father at the Morro Castle, the picturesque Spanish fort at the edge of Havana.

It was 1961, the Bay of Pigs invasion had failed and Fidel Castro was rounding up thousands of suspected insurgents. Linares accompanied his mother to the prison and watched as she lowered a bucket of food to her husband in the crowded castle courtyard.

Linares' father, a teacher, was sentenced to death for his political activities, but avoided execution by fleeing Cuba with his wife and sons. They arrived in New Jersey in 1966 with little except hope.

These are the memories that occasionally flash through Linares' mind, and the ones that no doubt will do so again today when he is sworn in as a federal judge. There are more than 860,000 Cuban-born Americans, according to the 2000 Census, but Linares is believed to be only the third appointed to the federal bench.

"He's a role model not just for people of the same nationality and background, but for everybody," said Superior Court Judge Eugene Codey, who presides over the civil division in Essex County, where Linares most recently served. "He is the American dream."

Linares' father will attend today's event, as will his uncle, a onetime political prisoner who was granted a special visa to come from Cuba. The keynote speaker at the ceremony in Newark will be Mel Martinez, secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the first Cuban-American Cabinet member.

"If you told my parents that there was going to come a day when the president was going to send a member of his Cabinet to speak at something for one of their sons, who would believe that," Linares said in an interview Monday. "And yet here we are. In great measure, it's justification for everything they did."

Linares' friends and supporters point just as quickly to his own accomplishments. They say Linares built a reputation as a skilled medical malpractice attorney, one that helped him earn his seat on the Superior Court two years ago.

He has long been an active member of the Hispanic Bar Association, where he sponsors an annual student scholarship. Linares has also been visible both in political circles and on the fields and courts of Essex County, where he has coached youth sports for years.

For Linares, a 49-year-old West Caldwell resident, coaching is a stress relief and a way for him to strengthen the bonds with the three children he and his wife, Gail, have raised. But sports also eased his introduction into American culture after he arrived in 1966.

Linares played tackle at Immaculate Conception High School in Montclair and Jersey City State College. He still carries a lineman's frame.

It is telling that, when asked for names of people who know him, Linares includes a fellow baseball coach in West Caldwell, a longtime friend from Newark who has long shared his passion for sports, and the high school football coach with whom he still talks.

"He had fight in him back then that you'd love to have in a player or anybody. He was just not going to give up," said Joseph Lennon, who coached at Immaculate Conception and now is football coach and athletic director at DePaul High School in Wayne.

Linares' route toward a career in law started a few months after his family arrived in New Jersey, he said. They were living in an apartment over a real estate office in Verona when the landlord tried to evict them.

Linares said he saw the shock in his father's eyes, and the comfort that followed when a legal aid attorney later explained their rights.

After graduating from Temple University Law School in Philadelphia, Linares worked for the New York Department of Investigation and then a private practice in Newark before hanging his own shingle in Bloomfield.

His mother and brothers helped run the office and soon he built a clientele, starting first with the North Ward neighbors and friends in Newark that he had cultivated, and the experience of being a newcomer to the country.

"He's mindful of where he came from -- I think that's his biggest advantage," said Ramon de la Cruz, a regional president for the Hispanic National Bar Association.

Linares and his friends also credit the strength he drew from his close-knit family. His parents, Jose and Mercedes, ran their own school in Cuba and became certified as teachers in the Newark school district. Their five sons remain extremely close, friends say.

In 1985, the senior Linares launched a long-shot bid to represent Newark's North Ward in the Assembly, and turned to his oldest son to manage his campaign. He lost the race, but his respectable showing gave heart to future Hispanic candidates.

"This was something that we never thought could be accomplished -- but he did and his brothers did," said Mario Moyano, who first became friends with Linares when both were teens in Newark.

The youngest of the brothers, Luis, 36, said he and his siblings still turn to the oldest for his vision and perspective. And he credited his mother with teaching all of her sons drive and humility.

"She kept life very simple," Luis Linares said. "She always reminded them: You are as good as anyone else; you're not better than anyone else."

Mercedes Linares died of cancer in 1989. She spent the last weeks of her life at home with her sons at her side. Linares said that watching her suffer reinforced his enthusiasm as an advocate for malpractice victims. Talking about it now makes him pause.

"I never pursued anything on her behalf because it was too painful a process for me," he said.

But there were other cases.

Among Linares' clients was the family of Marie Avilla, an Elizabeth woman who died in the Essex County jail annex in 1993 after allegedly being denied her prescription medicine. Avilla's relatives later collected a private settlement from the county, and Linares believes the case helped improve conditions at the jail.

Linares had been active in Republican politics, but not in the spotlight. But when President Bush had the chance to fill court vacancies in New Jersey, Linares threw his name into the ring. The Senate approved the bid last fall.

"I never had a doubt," said Bill Palatucci, the GOP consultant who helped arrange the appointment. "But he worried the entire time."

Among those attending today's ceremony will be John Shannon, who has shared coaching duties with Linares on a West Caldwell recreation league baseball team for three years.

Shannon said the judge typically coaches from third base when his team is at bat, and is never squeamish about waving a runner around second base or calling for a squeeze bunt.

"We get a lot of kids thrown out coming into third base," Shannon said. "He's very aggressive. He'll push the envelope to try to get the kids every advantage he can."

Linares doesn't deny it.

"Anyone who's successful," he said, "has got to be willing to take some chances."

Bush Appoints his 6th, Pro-Abortion Federal Judge in NJ!!

Bush taps Chertoff for a high-profile appeals court post

Friday, January 17, 2003

BY ROBERT RUDOLPH AND ROBERT COHEN
Star-Ledger Staff

Michael Chertoff, the former U.S. attorney for New Jersey now heading the government's terrorism investigations, will soon be nominated by President Bush to a prestigious post on a federal appeals court.

New Jersey's two Democratic senators confirmed yesterday that Chertoff, who is head of the Justice Department's criminal division, will accept a presidential appointment to the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals, the judicial panel that handles federal appellate cases for New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania and the Virgin Islands.

Spokesmen for Sens. Jon Corzine (D-N.J.) and Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.) said the lawmakers were contacted by the White House and told of the president's intention to nominate Chertoff to the appeals court.

"Sen. Corzine has a very favorable view of the nomination and has no questions about Mr. Chertoff's legal talent," said Corzine spokesman David Wald.

Tim Yehl, Lautenberg's chief of staff, said the senator intends to meet with Chertoff soon to discuss the appeals court judgeship.

Among other things, the senators may seek to question Chertoff about issues like abortion rights and affirmative action. Both lawmakers are expected to support his nomination.

Chertoff could not be reached for comment yesterday.

A background investigation is required before the actual nomination can be made, but it is likely to be little more than a formality and take just a few weeks because Chertoff already has been cleared for sensitive government positions.

If confirmed by the Senate, Chertoff will fill a vacancy created in June 2000 when Judge Morton Greenberg went on part-time senior status.

Although the nomination is not likely to face serious opposition, there is no guarantee of swift confirmation in the Senate, where it could be held up by political battles over other, more controversial judicial nominees.

As assistant attorney general in charge of the criminal division, Chertoff has overseen a number of important terrorism cases since the Sept. 11 attacks. He also has been intimately involved in planning and executing the administration's pre-emptive strategy against terrorism, including policies that have drawn harsh criticism from civil libertarians.

These have included use of sweeping new powers to eavesdrop on phone calls and e-mails and to conduct searches, the holding of some 1,200 prisoners in secret detention across the nation, the use of new rules for the FBI to monitor religious places and political rallies without evidence of wrongdoing and the widespread questioning of young men of Arab descent.

Privately, Chertoff's friends say he has quietly deflected some of the more draconian measures proposed by Attorney General John Ashcroft and others in the administration. Publicly, Chertoff has said he feels comfortable with the route the administration has taken.

"We have quite successfully reconciled national security interests with our civil liberties," Chertoff said in a panel discussion in November. "Our critics have overstated what is going on. Every change in the way we operate does not constitute a desecration of the Constitution."

In his current job, Chertoff also has overseen a number of important cases against executives at Enron, WorldCom and Adelphia. He also approved the indictment of the Arthur Andersen accounting firm, which led to its collapse and conviction.

In November, Chertoff was considered for the post of chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission to replace the embattled Harvey Pitt. Chertoff met with key White House aides, but ultimately was not chosen. Government officials said the business community did not want a prosecutor at the SEC, and helped scuttle the appointment.

Chertoff, who was in private practice before being tapped for the Justice Department post in March 2001, garnered national headlines as the top federal prosecutor for New Jersey from 1990 to 1994. He oversaw the prosecution of the kidnappers and killers of Exxon executive Sidney Reso, New Jersey mob boss Louis "Bobby" Manna, Jersey City Mayor Gerald McCann and New York's top judge, Sol Wachtler.

Chertoff later went to Washington to work for New York Sen. Alfonse D'Amato and other Republicans on the Senate committee that investigated President Bill Clinton's Arkansas land deals, which came to be known as Whitewater.

More recently, he was a special prosecutor for the New Jersey Senate Judiciary Committee, coordinating inquiries into a Corrections Department scandal and the state's handling of State Police racial profiling issues.

The son of a rabbi, Chertoff was born in Elizabeth. He graduated from Harvard University in 1975, and received his law degree from Harvard Law School three years later. From 1979 to 1980, Chertoff clerked for U.S. Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan Jr., before taking a post as assistant U.S. attorney in New York.

It was in that post that Chertoff first began to attract media attention, successfully bringing to trial the celebrated Mafia "Commission" case, which toppled the bosses of most of the major crime families operating in New York.

While I agree with your concerns about the lower courts, I'd really rather Bush waste his political capital on the Supreme Court, which is the one that ultimately matters the most. So long as Roe is there, nothing else really matters.