Free Republic

Provocation is no excuse for derangement. And there has been plenty of provocation: decades of an imperial judiciary unilaterally legislating radical social change on the flimsiest of constitutional pretexts. But while that may explain, it does not justify the flailing, sometimes delirious attacks on the judiciary mounted by House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and others in the wake of the Terri Schiavo case.

The President, whose efforts to change the tort system have been buoyed by successful passage of a class action reform bill, said that becoming a part of the federal government when he was elected made him a convert to the notion of a national medical liability reform law. "When I first got to Washington, I thought that medical liability reform would best be handled at the state level until I realized what the cost was of the defensive practice of medicine, the cost of settling lawsuits, and the rising costs of premiums do to the federal budget," he said. "If...

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich has published a white paper entitled, The Conservative Movement at the Crossroads. In Part I of this series I'll examine the premise behind Crossroads and the origins of the Speaker's thinking. The Speaker begins by claiming that the conservative movement is at a crossroads in its development. He writes, "Now at the very moment that members of the movement are in control of the White House, the House and the Senate, and many governorships and state legislatures, conservatives find themselves at a crossroads." He asks whether, as conservatives, "should we be comfortable with...

Several recent columns make the point (intentionally and unintentionally) that there is a significant shift underway in the way that conservatives view, and talk about, the welfare state and government benefits. A liberal writer in the Baltimore Sun compares President’s Bush’s talk of an “ownership society” as conservatism’s latest attempt to destroy the welfare state. In large part he is correct, though the point of conservatism has never been to delight in the misfortunes of the poor, the sick, the elderly, etc. Rather, conservatism opposed the welfare state for because (depending on the speaker and the period): (a) the welfare...

"The overriding concern liberals say they have about Janice Rogers Brown is the unsubstantiated claim that she is out of the mainstream," notes Project 21 member Donald Scoggins. "If you look at her life and her achievements, she is well within what anyone could rationally consider mainstream. In fact, she stands out as someone who embodies American ideals." Associate Justice Brown is the daughter of an Alabama sharecropper who began her education in a segregated school. Her family later moved to California where she earned a law degree and spent the last 25 years in public service. After serving in...

In some quarters, Janice Rogers Brown is getting a fair hearing. Jonathan Turley, a law professor I remember well from my days at GWU, says that Democrats should drop their filibuster over Brown and nine other nominees. In an Op-Ed in the Los Angeles Times he writes: "Janice Rogers Brown of the California Supreme Court is equally conservative — she once called the New Deal a "socialist revolution." But however inflammatory her remarks outside the courtroom, Brown's legal opinions show a willingness to vote against conservative views, particularly in criminal cases, when justice demands it." Turley's view is telling. He...

Numerous left-of-center organizations have opposed the nomination of California Supreme Court Justice Janice Rogers Brown to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, claiming that her views are out of the mainstream. Examples include: the AFL-CIO, the Congressional Black Caucus and the People for the American Way. When these groups stoop to mention specifics, one of the cases most frequently cited is that of Oscar Aguilar v. Avis Rent A Car System, 21 Cal. 4th 121 (1999). Follow this link for an in-depth analysis of Justice Brown's dissent in this case: http://www.jonathanbwilson.com/2005.04.01_arch.html#1114017585876