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.
She should have refused to appoint ANYONE if this was the "lesser" of the evils.
She couldn't have chosen to appoint no one and demanded a more acceptable nominee?
Or, they could have been played, receiving false information themselves, or this could be some of that 'good old boys network' with friends helping friends, or worse..
Yes, Deb, I have an agenda. It is to restore adherence to America's most fundamental principles, starting with those who call themselves Christians and conservatives. The country cannot be saved until that change occurs.
Repost!
xxxx
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.
Also, 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?
xxxx
So don’t jump the gun. We are dealing with the MSM here.
Bravo Sierra.
From the Alaska Constitution, Article 4 Section 5: Nomination and Appointment
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.
It doesn't say anything about kicking it back or refusing to appoint or anything like what YOU would like to have happen. IT'S THE LAW. And even then it only applys until Section 6 can be implemented.
6. Approval or Rejection
Each supreme court justice and superior court judge shall, in the manner provided by law, be subject to approval or rejection on a nonpartisan ballot at the first general election held more than three years after his appointment. Thereafter, each supreme court justice shall be subject to approval or rejection in a like manner every tenth year, and each superior court judge, every sixth year.
Amazing how many here want a sitting governor to break the law she is bound to uphold.
That question is still accepting the original assumption, which I challenge, see post #117.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2200773/posts?page=117#117
Read post 145.
“I already addressed that. Leave the post vacant until they provide a candidate who lives up to her sworn oath to protect unalienable rights.”
That wasn’t addressing it, even a child when faced with a choice between two can wish in his heart to simply do nothing and make it go away.
If that is your only option you are offering her from choosing one of the two, then tell us what you found out in your research about the real life viability of just not making an appointment at all and leaving the seat vacant, as a big time political heavy I assume that you already looked into before you started this thread.
True. There are many options for what they are saying.
IMHO, Sarah being pro-abortion isn’t one of them!
#169 "answers" nothing. It merely points out how desperately you will "spin" in order to smear Palin.
Give me a constitutional amendment that protects innocent persons from biological inception until natural death, and I’ll support it.
Until then, I’ll fight for the Constitution we already have, which protects the lives of innocent PERSONS already in the Fifth and the Fourteenth Amendments, and which has as its own stated purpose the securing of liberty to our POSTERITY.
Someone who actually understands why it is that our republic is dying. If you don’t first understand it, you can hardly do anything to stop it.
Say what you want about McCain but he never cast a single vote that wasn't 100% pro-life and when questioned by the press in her debate for Governor, Palin said even in cases of rape I WOULD CHOOSE LIFE!
Harming Sarah Palin will not help your pathetic, seven member party.
Lame. Posting some obscure forum post by yourself as proof. Troll begone.
These anti-Palin whackos are like the Phelps family...phony “Christians”. It’s impossible to believe they’re not working for Carville and Begala.
BS. He supports killing persons at the embryonic stage. He and Palin ran ads during the late campaign promoting spending more tax dollars on doing so, even.
He has voted hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to Planned Parenthood.
And more.
As Rick Santorum openly revealed last fall, McCain spent the last decade in the back rooms of the Senate blocking virtually every piece of pro-life, pro-family legislation that came along.
Forget it, Deb. Some people simply refuse to save some if they can’t save at, never realizing that their position is more reprehensible than those they oppose in the name of ideological purity.
These people would rather let millions die instead of saving many of them, if it means budging even a millimeter from their self-proclaimed correctness.
All or nothing is a narrow-minded and self-defeating position, and I fully expect to be labeled all sorts of nasty names for pointing it out.
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