Free Republic

Despite being thoroughly unqualified to occupy the bench, Elena Kagan will most likely be confirmed to the Supreme Court. This is because most of our hundred senators are almost as unqualified to judge a judge as she is to be one. What is the proper criterion to apply? Well, a simple analogy illustrates the point best. Let's say you needed to hire a football referee. If he said that he was a "pragmatic" referee, who viewed the rule book as "living" and thus would interpret the rules to suit the "times," would he be your man? Since it's the job...

Good News on the Law: Can President Obama Change the Supreme Court?Date 11/07/08 | Topic: Life Today By Stephen L. Bloom Esq.Good News Daily It’s no exaggeration to say that the lives, liberty, and property of Americans (especially the lives of millions of unborn Americans) rest in the hands of the nine Justices of our Supreme Court. With stakes so high, will the election of Barack Obama bring sweeping change to the delicate balance of power on the nation’s top court? Will the rise of President Obama inevitably usher in a new Liberal majority of Supreme Court Justices? With so many...

At least they're open about it: the New York Times disdains Supreme Court justices who hew to the principles upon which this country was founded. The Times's admission came in the course of an editorial calling on Obama and Clinton to put aside their bickering and focus on beating John McCain. That is vital, in the Times's view, given McCain's pledge to nominate Supreme Court justices in the mold of John Roberts and Samuel Alito. Writes the Times [emphasis added]: Mr. McCain predictably criticized liberal judges, vowed strict adherence to the Founders’ views and promised to appoint more judges in...

Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. made it clear as he began taking questions at yesterday's National Italian American Foundation luncheon that he couldn't reveal any of the Supreme Court's forthcoming opinions. But did he at least give a hint? Two of the court's biggest remaining cases focus on the First Amendment, and while Alito didn't mention either, he did make it clear that any restrictions on speech face a high hurdle with him. "I'm a very strong believer in the First Amendment and the right of people to speak and to write," Alito said in response to a question of...

Baltimore, Md. -- Mitt Romney said today he would name judges in the mold of Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice Samuel Alito "if I am lucky enough" to become President and be able to appoint federal jurists. At a press briefing following his luncheon address to the Republican Study Committee retreat here, the former Massachusetts governor and '08 Republican presidential hopeful said that the two Supreme Court appointments made by George W. Bush were "exactly spot on" and he would name judges like Roberts and Alito. His criterion for naming federal judges, Romney added, would be...

I asked my fellow RedState contributors earlier today to send me suggested questions to ask Mitt Romney during his press availability. Thomas Crown was the winner, and I asked this question of Romney: “Governor, if you were elected President, could you describe the type of justices you would appoint to the federal bench?” "I think the justices that President Bush has appointed are exactly spot-on. I think Justice Roberts and Justice Alito are exactly the kind of justices America needs. They’re people who believe that the Constitution is what they’re to follow, not what they’re to depart from; people who...