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The study, by the nonpartisan Environmental Law Institute, looked at 325 federal trial and appellate court rulings between 2001 and 2004 concerning the National Environmental Policy Act, a foundation of U.S. environmental law that requires all federal agencies to take into account the impact of their actions on the environment.

It found that a plaintiff with pro-environmental goals had less than half the chance of success before a Republican-appointed judge (a 28 percent success rate) than before a Democratic appointee (59 percent success rate). Conversely, plaintiffs with pro-development or industry goals were successful only 14 percent of the time before Democratic appointees, but 58 percent of the time before Republican appointees.

The GOP judges' anti-environmental stance has grown more pronounced under Bush. Of the 23 NEPA cases heard by the president's appointees, only four were decided in favor of the environment -- that's 83 percent of cases decided in favor of industry, a marked decline from the already poor environmental success rate scored with nominees of past Republican presidents. (The report does note, however, that the Bush judges have served for such a short time that more data will be needed to fully affirm this trend.)

http://www.grist.org/news/maindish/2005/01/20/scherer-judges/

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Ideological Voting on Federal Courts of Appeals: A Preliminary Investigation

http://www.law.uchicago.edu/academics/judges/papers.html

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Confirmed Judges Confirm Our Worst Fears

http://www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/default.aspx?oid=13509 ... Bush-nominated judges who received significant opposition, such as Jeffrey Sutton, Dennis Shedd, Michael McConnell, and John Roberts. These judges have issued a number of troubling opinions, primarily in dissent, that have sought to:

 

• question the constitutionality of the Endangered Species Act
   
• allow the Bush Administration to keep secret the records of Vice President Cheney’s energy task force
   
• overturn National Labor Relations Board rulings against anti-union discrimination and other unfair labor practices by employers
   
• re-write by court order a state law regulating First Amendment activity
   
• cut back severely on the scope of the federal arson law due to “federalism” concerns

  (PFAW goes on to cite specific cases for each circuit court level.)

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  Cornerstones of American Democracy - A Primer on Judicial Restraint, Federalism, and Nominations to the Federal Bench  

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  http://www.endangeredlaws.org/

  A new report released by the Endangered Environmental Laws Program, Judging NEPA: A "Hard Look" at Judicial Decision Making Under the National Environmental Policy Act, shows that federal judges' political affiliation may be a decisive factor in determining the outcome of cases brought under the National Environmental Policy Act.

  A new article published in the Environmental Law Institute's Environmental Forum, "The Rise (And Fall?) Of Fundamentalist Federalism," discusses the role of federalism in today's environmental litigation and whether federalism will return to a pre-new deal form of government or continue to support modern environmental laws.

  The Threat

  A well-organized movement is working to persuade federal judges to adopt radical reinterpretations of our Constitution that would endanger the future of environmental law. Recent decisions have threatened to undermine the power of Congress to protect the environment through the exercise of its constitutional power to regulate interstate commerce. New interpretations of states' rights and sovereign immunity are stripping the federal government of jurisdiction over environmental issues and denying citizens access to federal courts. Environmental protections continue to be challenged under the Takings Clause of the Fifth Amendment, and standing to file citizen suits has been narrowed.

  These developments threaten more than three decades of federal environmental legislation passed by large majorities in Congress and repeatedly endorsed by public opinion. Laws such as the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act face an uncertain future.

   http://www.endangeredlaws.org/Recent-Decisions.htm

   

   
  
  I'm sure there's more out there, I just don't have time for this now. I did take great pleasure in reading the squealing paranoia of the Left lol

[Rudder]

Excllent!

And thanks.