Judge Rules In Favor Of Wilson In Civil Rights Commission Case

CNSNews.com ^ | 2/04/02 | Melanie Hunter

[kattracks]

CNSNews.com) - Federal Judge Gladys Kessler ruled Monday in favor of Victoria Wilson and against President Bush's most recent appointment to replace Wilson on the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, Peter Kirsanow.

The Justice Department said it will appeal the judge's ruling.

At issue is whether federal law allows Wilson to serve a full six-year stint on the panel, or only the unexpired portion of Higginbotham's term to which she was appointed.

The 1983 law reauthorizing the USCCR specifically limited commissioners appointed to fill unexpired terms to the remaining length of the original term. A 1994 reauthorization law did not include that language. However, it also included no contradictory provisions.

[Magnum44]

For that matter, anyone who makes their living off other peoples taxes are partisan idiots by financial circumstance.

I don't agree. There are many in public service who are not partisan or idiots. Military personnel, firefighters, and other such patriots come to mind. But judges who obviously can't interpret the constitution do not rank among those patriots.

[Republic]

Whoever the judge is..this is a mistake. I just watched Berry comment on it on the tube and she said the executive brance and the judicial branch should have been set down because she does not want them ever telling her what to do in the future. She is sick. In her very soul. And full of herself, too. I am SO SORRY this pathetic woman is in charge of this commission and I am so GLAD that the grown-ups in our current administration are NOT AFRAID of people like berry, just like Summers, the new prez of Harvard is NOT afraid of the elite black cliche that tries to live apart from the rule everyone else has to follow because everyone is afraid of them throwing out the word racist.

The liberals have assigned really morally bankrupt people to the positions of overseers on their sordid plantation of unlimited victemization and calls of racism.

[Congressman Billybob]

You, sir or madame, are a moron.

Based on the political background of the judge in question, and her prior decisions, and the facr that Wilson's appointment by Clinton (him) expired in November, 2001, it should be clear that this judge twisted the law to reach a preconceived decision.

This will be reversed on appeal. You can then come back to FreeRepublic and apologize for your ludicrous posts claiming that this was a correct decision and saying "I told you so."

I told YOU, so.

Congressman Billybob

Phil & Billybob in the mornings.

[Behind Liberal Lines]

Judge Kessler was appointed to the United States District Court for the District of Columbia in July 1994. She received a B.A. from Cornell University ....

One more reason to say it:
Ithaca is the City of Evil.

[texson66]

From DemoRat Universities...Harvard,Yale, Brown, Berkley,etc ...you get the drift to port?

[boltfromblue]

They know how to read, some; they are just commies like Klintoon AND people of their ilk who want to undermine our democratic electoral process.

[blackdog]

You are right, but the parasites far outnumber the workers.

[JD86]

Clinton appointee, right?

[JD86]

Oh, my Goodness....her blouse and her pearls and her lipstick all match.......there must be a psychological profile for this one.

[Kryptonite]

Right-minded people need to understand that the Klintoons were much more involved in practicing law (esp. Hitlery) than Reagan, Bush Sr., or Bush. Jr., and therefore knew full well how powerful loading the federal bench with extremely liberal judges would be in their effort to effectuate radical change (obviously for the worse) in this country. The only thing that could possibly correct 8 years of this type of ridiculous abuse of power would be if Bush Jr. starts acting and pushing very hard now for very conservative judicial appointments. The existing liberals have the benefit of a head start on court of appeals appointments and Bush needs to get his people seated so they obtain the necessary experience to pass muster in public opinion when the next level appointments are made.

Sadly, I doubt that more than just a few people understand just how big of a problem the Klintoons created, and I'm not talking just about ordinary Americans, I also mean to include the so-called experts in the Republican party. The majority of cases would settle, even on the basis of a terrible ruling, than be appealed. It's a matter of simple economics. I trust this matter will be appealed, but under the microscope, the conservatives are getting creamed in the federal court system.

[Kryptonite]

Do judges suffer any consequences from being overturned?

Need to ask an attorney, but I think that repeated 'bad bench calls' can have impacts.

Think again, federal appointments are lifetime appointments. It doesn't matter one bit whether a judge gets overruled more than any other judge, he/she stays in the position for life.

[MonroeDNA]

Thank you for your insight; once again you have cleared up things. I love your posts!

[sig226]

As long as they rule clearly on law, they don't have to explain any of it. Actually, they don't have to explain anything, although it makes a questionable ruling easier to overturn.
The Emerson case is a good example. The finding of the appellate court was that the law stood and the case was remanded for retrial. The stuff about the second amendment was very nice, but it was dicta - words. It explains why they made their decision, but it is not the decision (finding). Also, the dicta can be used in future cases to argue that the particular ruling is not applicable to the new case.
Since Kessler seems to have invented a new law, my bet is that the dicta in her decision kept an entire printing plant operating.

[sig226]

Sorry, should have written ruling instead of findings.

[AmishDude]

The plain language of the new statute did not provide for vacancy appointments, the prior statute did.

But if I assume your premise (BTW, I still say the new one doesn't override the old one on this point, but I'm going with you here.) why was this done? Was it sloppy legislating? I doubt it was done on purpose, otherwise Clinton wouldn't have been foolish enough to put the "expiration date" on the letter of appointment.

And this reminds me of all the converts to Federalism we got during the Florida recount fiasco.

[sig226]

If they are repeatedly overruled on appeal, the legal community gets the message: "This judge is always wrong." It grossly diminishes their standing. Other than that, there isn't much to be done with an incompetent federal judge. Congress was supposed to determine the judge's competence prior to appointment.

[Mercat]

This was expected. Appeal now and if lose, the to the Supremes. Of course, the best thing would be to win full control of Congress and vote the commission out of business.

[NativeNewYorker]

Mark Green, Janet Reno, Ruth Ginsburg...