Redstate

Posted at 1:59pm on Jun. 4, 2008 Mitch McConnell Shuts Down the Senate

Going to Wait out our Judicial Nominees, are you? Here -- have a listen to *this*!

By Jeff Emanuel

Harry Reid and the Senate Democrats pledged to hold a confirmation vote on three of President Bush's Circuit Court nominees prior to Memorial Day, then broke their word and allowed only one to be considered on the floor, thinking that their continued obstructionism in the face of a Republican minority and lame-duck President would go unchallenged and without consequence.

Today, Senate Republicans, led by Mitch McConnell (R-KY), began to pay back the Democrats for their obstructionist, bullying tactics.

Mitch McConnell shut down the floor today by forcing the clerk to read all 500 or so pages of Barbara Boxer’s climate change bill, making it essentially impossible for anything to happen in the Senate all day (or, technically, until the reading is complete).

In addition to stopping all progress on the legislation currently on the floor, this action will have the effect of throwing off Reid’s entire legislative calendar (yes, the same one he somehow "forgot" to add those promised pre-Memorial Day confirmation votes to).

There are few things the minority can do in the Senate more disruptive to the Majority than removing their ability to manage the floor. Reid and Boxer (D-CA) have been seen very agitatedly conversing on the floor during the reading (clearly, Boxer neither wants to hear, nor wants anybody else to hear, her bill read in so public a location as the Senate chamber).

McConnell's action is designed to send a very specific message to Reid, Boxer, Leahy, and the rest of the Senate Democrats that Republicans will not stand by while they hedge, obstruct, and otherwise refuse to move on the nominations of qualified judges to the bench.

Read on.

Posted in Congress | Democratic Obstructionism | Judges — Comments (11)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 8:35pm on Jan. 9, 2008 Huck on Judges

By Alexham

For some time now, many critics of Governor Huckabee have questioned his commitment to appointing conservative justices/judges as president.

Well, Governor Huckabee has finally updated his website to address this issue directly:

One of the greatest ongoing threats to our constitutional republic is the ever-increasing politicization of the federal judiciary. Instead of interpreting the law according to its plain or original meaning, many judges are using the Constitution and statutes passed by Congress as a mere pretense for imposing their policy preferences on the American people. This is unacceptable. The role of a judge is to interpret the law, not to legislate from the bench; and as president, I will only appoint men and women who share this view.

I firmly believe that the Constitution must be interpreted according to its original meaning, and flatly reject the notion of a "living Constitution." The meaning of the Constitution cannot be changed by judicial fiat. The powers delegated to the federal government by the Constitution come from "We the People," and judges have no right to prohibit the people from passing democratically-enacted laws unless we have explicitly authorized them to do so. Nor can vaguely-worded language in the Constitution be used by judges to give them power over subjects the framers never intended our founding document to address. As such, any interpretation of the Constitution that is based on "evolving standards of decency," penumbras, or any other judicial fiction, is antithetical to the rule of law, and must be forcefully challenged.

As president, I will appoint justices and judges who not only share my judicial philosophy ( e.g., Chief Justice John Roberts, Justice Antonin Scalia, Justice Clarence Thomas, and Justice Samuel Alito), but who also have established themselves within the conservative legal community as faithful adherents of originalism and textualism. The stakes are simply too high to do otherwise.

Finally, I wholeheartedly believe "that the state exists to preserve freedom, that the separation of governmental powers is central to our Constitution, and that it is emphatically the province and duty of the judiciary to say what the law is, not what it should be"; and I will do everything in my power as president to promote these cherished principles.

Now, I realize that I am biased, but that's about as strong a statement as a judicial conservative could possibly hope for from a presidential candidate. So, while there are still reasons for many of you to oppose Governor Huckabee's candidacy, I hope this issue is no longer one of them.

Posted in 2008 | Judges | Mike Huckabee | Originalism — Comments (57)/ Email this page » / Read More »