Free Republic

"We must not forget that we are talking about empowering partisan politicians such as state Secretaries of State to disqualify their political opponents from the ballot, depriving voters of the ability to elect candidates of their choice. If abused, this is profoundly anti-democratic." EUGENE VOLOKH | 8.12.2023 6:58 PM I'm delighted to be able to pass along this response by Prof. Michael McConnell (Stanford Law School) to a couple of items that were posted on the blog in the last few days: "There is a recent flurry of interest in Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment, which bars any person...

A group of prominent conservatives released a new report Thursday outlining their investigation into the 2020 election and have concluded former President Trump's claims of a stolen election are unfounded. The report, "LOST NOT STOLEN: The Conservative Case that Trump Lost and Biden Won the 2020 Presidential Election," was put together by three former federal judges and eight conservative leaders who investigated Trump's claims. Over the course of a year, the group looked at all 64 cases of the Trump campaign's fraudulent claims in six key states and concluded that there were no substantial instances of fraud that would have...

Facebook on Wednesday announced the first 20 members of its Oversight Board, an independent body that can overturn the company’s own content moderation decisions. The oversight board will govern appeals from Facebook and Instagram users and questions from Facebook itself, although it admitted it will have to pick and choose which content moderation cases to take due to the sheer volume of them.  The board will receive cases through a content management system that is linked to Facebook’s own platforms. They will then discuss the case as a group before issuing a final decision on whether the content should be allowed to stay...

Former UN Ambassador John Bolton wants DNI Michael McConnell to redo the National Intelligence Estimate to properly reflect the threat Iran poses to the region and the US. The do-over should emphasize the dual-use nature of its nuclear program, which Bolton claims got glossed over in the original: Today, Director of National Intelligence Michael McConnell testifies before the Senate Intelligence Committee (and Thursday on the House side) to give the intelligence community's annual global threat analysis. These hearings are always significant, but the stakes are especially high now because of the recent National Intelligence Estimate on Iran. Criticism of the...

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration has confirmed for the first time that American telecommunications companies played a crucial role in the National Security Agency's domestic eavesdropping program after asserting for more than a year that any role played by the companies was a state secret. The acknowledgement was made in an unusual interview that Mike McConnell, the director of national intelligence, conducted with The El Paso Times last week in which he disclosed details on classified intelligence issues that the administration has long insisted would harm national security if discussed publicly. He made the remarks, an apparent effort to bolster...

ntelligence czar to leave post, go to State: NBC Wed Jan 3, 2007 7:30 PM ET WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The director of national intelligence, John Negroponte, will leave his post to take a senior position at the State Department, NBC news reported on Wednesday. Negroponte was the first U.S. intelligence czar

...Elevating Judge Roberts to Chief was a logical decision, both politically and on the merits. The Senate and media have been investigating the nominee since July, and have found superlatives with nary a negative. The Judge is in a position to be rapidly confirmed.... More importantly, what we have learned about Judge Roberts suggests that he shares Chief Justice Rehnquist's judicial philosophy. If Mr. Bush now follows with the nomination of an equally distinguished conservative for the Court's second opening, the Roberts Court will be able to continue the legal restoration that the late Chief Rehnquist began.... That historic mission...

SYNDICATED COLUMNIST Mr. President, they must think you're head of programming at CBS. Some people are telling you to name a Hispanic as your first Supreme Court nominee. Others say pick a woman. Harry Reid says pick someone who's not too controversial. Arlen Specter says look outside the judiciary for a fresh face. They must think you are picking a TV host to build ratings against Katie Couric and Matt Lauer. But this is a Supreme Court pick, not a programming choice. Nobody will care about superficial first impressions or identity politics tokenism a few years from now. What will...

July 05, 2005, Sinister Strategies The Left's plan to block judicial nominees. All weekend we heard from the likes of Ralph Neas (People for the American Way), Nan Aron (Alliance for Justice), and other leaders of a left-wing coalition insisting that President Bush nominate a "mainstream conservative" to the Supreme Court, or that he unite the nation with a "pragmatist" or "moderate" in the character of Sandra Day O'Connor. This is real chutzpah. These are the same people and groups that have conspired to undermine President Bush's judicial appointments for over four years, and now seek to derail any nominee...

EVALUATING STRICT CONSTRUCTIONISTS. How to Judge by Jeffrey Rosen Post date 11.22.04 | Issue date 11.29.04 [Sandra Day O'Connor said today that she is resigning from the Supreme Court. Last November, TNR published this guide to the possible replacements.] During his postelection press conference, President Bush made it clear that he intends to appoint a reliable "strict constructionist" to replace the ailing Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist if and when he retires. According to administration officials, there are eight candidates on Bush's short list, all of whom fit the bill. Senate Democrats will try to distinguish between conservatives and moderates...

WASHINGTON — The Bush administration has placed the name of Michael McConnell, a judge on the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals and former University of Utah professor, on its list of potential Supreme Court nominees, highlighting a conservative legal scholar whose opposition to abortion and provocative ideas about church and state has prompted liberal groups to announce their opposition before there is even a court vacancy. Michael McConnell But McConnell's conservative credentials tell only part of his story. He "cannot be pegged as an ideologue," says Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. "McConnell's views defy political pigeon-holing. . . . He calls...

Feddie Says Rehnquist Stepping Down Steve "Feddie" Dillard, Grand Poobah of Southern Appeal, has revealed that a reliable source has told him that Chief Justice Rehnquist will be stepping down in the next 4 weeks. Feddie is pretty well connected in those circles, so I have no reason to doubt it. Besides that, it's what everyone is expected anyway. He is predicting that Michael McConnell will be the choice to replace him, which is the same person I've been predicting for the last few months. McConnell is solidly conservative, but not in a partisan manner. He's an intellectual conservative, not...

WASHINGTON - With the news that Chief Justice Rehnquist will not return to the bench this week because of treatment for thyroid cancer, speculation has intensified that he may step down after President Bush's inauguration. On the list of potential Supreme Court nominees to replace him is Judge Michael McConnell, a jurist with bipartisan appeal who sits on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit. The Kentucky native received the enthusiastic backing of conservative groups as well as some prominent liberal law professors when he was nominated to the appeals bench by the president in 2001. He also...

Getting Over Roe v. Wade A conservative Christian says it's time for his side to accept Roe as law and ask what's next. By R.R. Carlo Earlier this fall, professor Michael McConnell of the University of Utah told senators that he regarded the Supreme Court's landmark abortion decision Roe. V. Wade "as settled as any issue can be in constitutional law." McConnell noted that "a lot has happened" since Roe and, as a result, the right to an abortion reflects "the consensus of the American people . . ." What makes these comments noteworthy—even shocking--is that McConnell, confirmed last...

Yet another group of law professors has decided to enter the political fray over President Bush's judicial nominations by sending a joint letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee. The letter strongly opposes the nomination of Michael McConnell to the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, and is apparently meant to counter an earlier letter from professors who support McConnell. McConnell himself has bemoaned the "extreme, partisan, hyperbolic, and vitriolic flavor of much [public] commentary by academics." This week's letter, sadly, serves only to prove McConnell's point.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 12 — Democrats who had been using their slim majority in the Senate to block several of President Bush's judicial candidates are expected to give way some on Thursday and allow the confirmation of two appeals court nominees, senior Congressional aides said today. Thursday's vote will put on vivid display the impending shift in power in the Senate from Democrats to Republicans and how it will enhance Mr. Bush's ability to shape the courts. The two candidates who are scheduled to be voted on on Thursday by the Judiciary Committee are among about a dozen appeals court candidates...

THE LINGERING PROBLEMS WITH ROE V. WADE, AND WHY THE RECENT SENATE HEARINGS ON MICHAEL MCCONNELL'S NOMINATION ONLY UNDERLINED THEMBy EDWARD LAZARUSelazarus@findlaw.com Thursday, Oct. 03, 2002 Within the circle of former clerks to Justice Harry Blackmun, I have more than occasionally been taken to task for breaking with the party line and sharply criticizing Roe v. Wade, the opinion that will forever stand as the Justice's most famous contribution to American jurisprudence. But over the years, I've come to believe even more strongly that my initial doubts about the decision were valid. Over the last few weeks, as the Senate...

September 18, 2002 9:00 a.m. After savaging a White House nominee, Democrats appear ready to go easy on the next one It's looking good," says a Hill Republican when asked about the confirmation chances of Michael McConnell, the University of Utah professor who has been nominated for a place on the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals. "We feel good about at least one and perhaps two Democrats voting for him." That assessment — made on the eve of McConnell's hearing today before the Senate Judiciary Committee — stood in marked contrast to the words of top Justice Department official Viet...