Posted on 12/21/2005 7:38:50 AM PST by Carl/NewsMax
The press is breathlessly reporting that U.S. District Judge James Robertson has resigned from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court - "apparently" in a fit of conscience over news that President Bush was using the National Security Agency to monitor the telephone conversations of terrorists.
If the reports are correct, Judge Robertson's conscience has evolved considerably since the days when he was dismissing one criminal case after another against cronies of Bill Clinton - the man who appointed him to the bench in 1994.
Old Arkansas media hand Paul Greenberg has long had Robertson's number. In a 1999 column for Jewish World Review, Greenberg described the honorable judge as "one of the more prejudiced Clintonoids on the bench."
As Accuracy in Media noted in 2000, Judge Roberston's conscience wasn't particularly troubled by the crimes committed by one-time Clinton Deputy Attorney General Webb Hubbell.
In two cases involving Hubbell, AIM reported, "Judge James Robertson threw out a tax charge and another for lying to federal investigators. Appellate courts overruled in both cases, and Hubbell then plead guilty to felonies in each case."
Judge Robertson's conscience also seemed to go AWOL when it came to the case of Archie Schaffer, an executive with Tyson Chicken - the company that had showered Mr. Clinton with campaign contributions and helped steer Mrs. Clinton to her commodities market killing.
Critics said Judge Robertson was merely returning the favor on behalf of the man who appointed him, when - as CNN reported in 1998, he "threw out the jury conviction of Tyson Foods executive Archie Schaffer for providing gifts to former Agriculture Secretary Mike Espy."
Robertson had "granted a motion by Schaffer to overturn the verdict which found him guilty of giving Espy tickets to President Bill Clinton's first inaugural dinner and gifts at a birthday party for the firm's chief executive, Don Tyson."
In the context of his past performance on the bench, Judge Robertson's media fans will surely understand why some of us aren't buying their claims that he stormed off the FISA court in a fit of outrage over perceived law breaking.
When I heard about this, I said, "I bet he's a Clinton appointee....sure enough.
Don't let your swinging doors of justice hit your fat ass on the way out.
The way it was reported...even on FOX...I thought we were supposed to be mad at Bush that this FederaL Judge was resigning in protest.
I had to laugh, because my immediate reaction was, "so what"?
And my current reaction is, "good riddance!".
Good riddance to yet another piece of Dim/Clinturd
"judicial" rubbish. Piss Be Upon His Perverted Fate.
Judge Robertson is Old School. Once bought, stay bought.
Clever wordsmithing, Carl.
Good work...too bad this won't make the evening news.
The eight federal judges appointed by President Clinton to the U.S. District Court in Washington(Robertson is one of them) meet privately every month in closed-door sessions that other jurists believe are improper and call into question the court's impartiality. "I cannot imagine any legitimate reason for them to meet together once a month, even socially," said one veteran courthouse official familiar with the sessions. "It's not only in bad taste, it certainly has the appearance of impropriety. It's hard to imagine any rationale for these meetings.
I bet they're on Clinton's 'Legacy' team also.
Nothing is a stretch anymore.
The same thought occured to me. In fact, I considered that concept even before Robertson's departure, or knowing he was a FISA judge.
Robertson was appointed to the FISA court by Chief Justice Rehnquist after Rehnquist had plenty of time to judge Robert's judicial philosophy.
And Robertson has a point in this situation. The public wanted the power to do domestic spying without a court order to be taken away from the government because the government abused that power.
The government's only legitimate powers are those granted by the people. If the government needs the power to spy on U.S citizens within the country without a warrant they should get the law changed so that they have that power.
Is there any chance this judge was the one who leaked the information about the NSA surveillance authorized by Bush? It is part of the general weakness of the Bushies towards their opponents that there has not been launched a sweeping investigation by the FBI of those leaks as what they are--treason in time of war.
Another court pick for Bush.""
This is the best part of the story and it's results.
The media isn't mentioning one word about this man's record of dismissing the verdicts named here. Someone has to keep this part of the story alive and get it in front of the public at large.
Isn't he just resigning from the FISA court as opposed to from the bench in general. In other words, won't he remain on the District Court bench?
Well, if the judge had a problem with this, why didn't he have a problem when Toon was doing it?
$10 says these factoids DON'T make tonight's Nightly News.
Either a hack against or for the Administration. What's so good about having a "Secret" unelected unaccountable judge instead of an elected, limited President making the decisions?
Do I smell Judicial Leak to the Slimes?
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