Interesting pick

[Bruzilla]

There's no way she's going to get "Borked" as Harry Reid already suggested her name to the President. Now what does that tell you???

Brit Hume had some dude on yesterday that was defending the pick, and he went on and on about how she's an Evangelical Christian, how people just don't know her, and how she's perfect for the job. Then Hume started asking questions like are all Evangelical Christians conservatives, and the answer was no. Then he asked the guy if he had ever met Miers, and he said no, he was just basing his opinion on what he had heard from "a lot of people who know her well." When Hume asked who these people were, the guy could only mention one name and he did that reluctantly. Then Hume asked for the "gut check" question, will she be the kind of judge that Republicans want, and the answer was "I guess we won't know that until she's been on the bench for a while."

Well... that's the kicker right there. Nobody knows what this woman will do once she's on the bench for a while, and the only way to find out is to put her on the bench, and at that point there's nothing you can do about it if she turns out to be another Souter. So, why pcik an unknown when there are several great knowns to pick from? Because Bush is a pussy.

 

[Lenny]

What has amazed me these past two news cycles is how the conservatives, the moderates, and independents have attacked George Bush. He hasn't caved to the Democrats. John Roberts showed how they can be handled. George Bush picked a moderate female justice to keep the true majority of voters (women) from rebelling.

This will work out just fine, folks. Stop being Springtime Soldiers (a la John Kerry).

 

[2ndAmendment]

Grassfire.net is not just accepting Miers. I suspect many other conservatives are looking long and hard at this selection, too.

I wanted you and other key team members to be the first to hear how Grassfire is responding to the President's latest Supreme Court nomination. You can summarize our position in two words:

"Withholding support."

In short, my "gut feeling" is that Miers will be a fine justice, but a gut feeling is not good enough to gain the support of grassroots conservatives. We worked too long and hard to simply "trust" the President when so much is at stake and highly qualified nominees were available. Very soon, I will be releasing Grassfire's position to the media, but I wanted you to be the first to know. Of course, this situation will be in flux and I will keep you informed as events dictate.

Stay tuned.

 

[2ndAmendment]

I think Supreme Court justices should be apolitical and nonactivist. They should uphold the Constitution and already written laws and that's it. End of story. Supreme Court decisions should be a no-brainer, IMO. Congress is the legislative branch, not the Supreme Court.

<img src="http://smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/18/18_1_36.gif" /> Oh V! You're my hero!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I agree that they should be apolitical, but they should be strict constructionist. The laws must conform to the Constitution. Kerry had it exactly the wrong way when he was running when he said the Constitution must be interpreted according to the law. I also think that many, many, many of the already written laws should be thrown out as unconstitutional. And it has nothing to do with opinion, yours, mine, or anyone else's, Congress IS the legislative branch.

 

[2ndAmendment]

Well... that's the kicker right there. Nobody knows what this woman will do once she's on the bench for a while, and the only way to find out is to put her on the bench, and at that point there's nothing you can do about it ...

Not quite. Of course no one in Congress has the gonads to do it, but any judge or Federal officer can be impeached just like the president can.

U.S. Constitution, Article II, Section 4
The President, Vice President and all civil officers of the United States, shall be removed from office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.

Judges fall under the category of civil officers.

 

[Bruzilla]

He hasn't caved to the Democrats.

If that were a true statement we wouldn't be having this conversation, nor would so many other Republicans.

 

[BuddyLee]

You know, 2A, I'd be curious if, when the Founding Fathers created the three branches of government, they forsaw it becoming one huge partisan cluster-*. They're all supposed to be checking and balancing each other, but they don't really seem to do that as far as I can tell.

We need another John Marshall.

 

[Bruzilla]

According to her we need another Warren Berger, the justice she says she admires most and the guy who spearheaded keeping Roe v. Wade alive.

Russert had a great clip on MTP yesterday from the early 1960s. It was an interview with retired justice Tom Clark, a guy from Texas that Truman nominated under almost identical circumstances to the Miers nomination, and who Truman later said nominating Clark was the worst thing he had ever done as President... something interesting for the guy who nuked two cities to say. Tom Clark talked about how he had one set of values and beliefs before becoming a justice, but that sitting in that chair as a justice changed his perspective and he changed his mind on a lot of issues.

What was also interesting was that Tom Clark was Ramsey Clark's, attorney general under Lyndon Johnson, dad. What I never knew until yesterday was that the reason that Ramsey Clark got appointed was to force the elder Clark to retire from the Supreme Court. Johnson wanted to be known as the President who appointed the first black justice, Marshall, but there were no vacancies. So, with Ramsey's full knowledge and consent, Johnson appointed Ramsey as Attorney General, which forced Tom to retire and allowed Johnson to nominate Marshall.