Posted on 03/06/2009 9:15:49 AM PST by EternalVigilance
In a move that should give social conservatives great pause, Governor Sarah Palin has appointed a former board member of Planned Parenthood to the Alaska State Supreme Court.
Palin appointed Anchorage Superior Court Judge Morgan Christen to the state’s highest court on Wednesday. Along with Christen’s former board member status with Planned Parenthood.
There is no disputing Palin’s appointment of Christen will cause the Alaska Supreme to lean left and will ensure a more activist court when it comes to gay marriage, and abortion. The Christen appointment is key because she replaces justice Warren Mathews, one of the dissenting votes striking down the parental consent legislation.
The Governor, who early on won the support of Alaska liberals after she pushed through an enormous, unprecedented tax increase on the oil industry, seems to be back in their good graces with this appointment.
ADN liberal bloggers responded to Palin’s Supreme Court appointment writing,
“Ohmigawd!??The governor's been taken over by space aliens.??What an improvement!”
“Wow. Way to go Palin! I can't believe I just said that. But hey, credit where credit is due.”
“Glad to see a woman in the position to balance out the court. Good for Palin for keeping bible thumper beliefs out of the court system and honoring the separation of Church and State.”
“This is the one good action that Sarah Palin has taken over the past three years. And I have no problem admitting it. Great pick!!!! So even if the wing-nut parental consent bill passes, the state Supremes now have enough votes to overturn it as unconstitutional.”
Granted Palin would have had to put up a fight to block the appointment of the far left Christen to the court. Under Alaska law the judicial council made up mostly of liberal lawyers gets to filter out candidates who do not hold a leftist background. The governor must pick from the names forwarded.
But former governor Frank Murkowski during his term fought the process and at first refused to name any of the names submitted to him. The liberal media beat him up pretty bad over it and he eventually caved.
If Governor Palin would have taken on this fight, it probably would have ended up in court. If she had taken up the fight and asked for all the candidates’ names that applied to be forwarded, it would have brought to the public’s attention that trial lawyers control the third branch of government in Alaska. But with the governor refusing to spend any political capital on this issue, it is sure to disappear from Alaska’s political landscape.
The governor caving into trial lawyers also guarantees an activist court will continue to push its agenda on the people of Alaska. It will continue to stand between you and your child, continue to redefine marriage and block development.
Palin appointing Christen kills any move by the legislature to pass parental consent legislation. The new court with Christen on it will surely strike down any new laws. This is one of the reason Palin’s caving is confusing. Just recently held a news conference standing side by side with conservative lawmakers sponsoring new parental consent legislation.
Refusing to fight for parental consent laws is risky for Palin. It clearly will help her avoid controversy from the liberal media. But conservatives supporting her won't like the fact she appointed a former Planned Parenthood board member to Alaska’s highest court.
Many of the governor’s conservative supporters have ignored her high taxes and liberal anti free market policies. They support her simply because she says she is pro-life and is open about her faith. But the Christen appointment proves that while the governor lives the pro-life message in her personal life, she is not willing to spend political capital on the issue in her political life.
Because maybe she knows things about the candidates other than their age? Maybe she has certain knowledge that one is a hard environmentalist and the other sees that issue her way. Could be all kinds of reasons.
And the guy with the beard looks like he has more than enough life in him to do monumental damage. So it seems silly to pick the older one.
And what if when the old one dies, Alaska has a dem governor? Thats a bad strategy.
Just for clarification, we don’t even know if Christen was a ‘regular leftist’, the leftist charge is based on this charge, which is in question. We don’t have a lot of information on her.. for all we know, she could be as Right as Limbaugh.. we just don’t know..
did she have the option to reject both nominees and ask them to try again?
Again, if the MSM begins to question Sarah Palin’s pro-life credentials, you will know where there’s heat, there’s fire. But I don’t think the MSM wants to diverge from their template, So you Obamatrons should go back to your master and check with him first to see if you’re on the same page. You wouldn’t want to disppoint your Messiah would you?
Go sit with the trolls, asswipe...it ain’t workin’.
No.
Hope you take the time to read the rest of the thread, follow the links, and dig a little deeper instead of trusting the MSM.
She did have a choice. Don’t take anyone who she knows will abrogate her sworn oath to defend innocent human life. Leave it vacant until they provide someone who understand the basic premises of our republic and our laws.
Ok, so your theory is that Sarah is pro-abortion? She’s made her bones on the issue, and everyone else is very clear where she is on the issue.
Repost!
Article 4, § 5 of the Alaska Constitution: “The governor shall fill any vacancy in an office of supreme court justice or superior court judge by appointing one of two or more persons nominated by the judicial council.”
She had no choice in the matter. Pick the hardcore leftist, or the one who was less left.
She went with the gal who was less left.
I didn't think you were allowed to use dirty words on this site, you TRAMP.
I was actually agreeing, it just didn’t come across well.. that really is the question though..
Why is this so-called pro-life group supporting Smith who is much further to the left on this issue and others? Are they who they claim to be?
It’s okay when calling out cross-dressers.
Yep. I suspect many of them are Paulites who look for opportunities to extinguish any shining light coming from another Republican. The rest of them, I just don't know. Do they realize how many times Governor Ronald Reagan made decisions that would not exactly be considered the conservative thing to do?
So Sarah Palin is a Manchurian candidate in the pro-life community. I would love it if any lib comedian made a joke that Sarah Palin was really pro-choice. I wonder how that would go over.
Folks, the lib establishment is delighted that Sarah is pro-life. Actually what these trolls may be doing is providing indies false info on Sarah which they might use to vote for her in 2012 and make the difference whether she is elected or not.
Ha, ha!
Still challenging your original premise, did or does Palin know that Christen is pro-abortion. The group was not planned parenthood at the time, they didn’t promote abortions at the time, the application linked above makes no mention of it.
You are accusing Palin of nominating a pro-abortion candidate when we DON’T KNOW that Christen is pro-abortion. You are making the assumption based on what the MSM says. You should know better.
Again, the more important question- Why is this Alaskan’s for Life promoting the more liberal, pro-abortion Smith? Don’t you think that question raises red flags about their charge?
I remember stuff that President Reagan did that wasn’t conservative..
You sound like trash be-itch.
Give me pause? Doesn't anyone read?? She didn't have much choice under Alaska law. End of story.
This is a media phony issue to drum up social conservatives to turn on Palin. They fear her.
Moving on....
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.