Wolf Howling: Specter

Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Partisanship and Judges

The partisan left obstructs Bush's judicial nominees as his term nears an end. Arlen Specter is hatching a strategy to force their hand.

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One thing that troubles me about our Congress is the repetitive cycle in which our newly elected representatives ascend to our highest offices in Congress with integrity and idealism, but then succumb to the cynicism and amoral expediency of partisan politics. Yes, this is a bipartisan disease, as any observer of the corrupt earmark practice will tell you, but it seems to have much more of an effect the left.

A case in point is judges. Supreme Court judges are certainly one issue. Republicans allowed Clinton to appoint qualified, though highly liberal, justices to the Court without any issue. Justice Ruth Ginsberg is incredibly far to the left in many respects, yet she was easilly confirmed by a Republican controlled Senate.

The left, however, has hardly returned the favor. They appear determined to block any further Bush appointees, despite historic practice and dire need. This from the WSJ:

. . . In the last two years of Bill Clinton's Administration, when Mr. Specter was in the chairman's seat, the Republican-controlled Senate confirmed 15 appellate court nominees.

Now, more than halfway through Mr. Bush's final two years, Chairman Patrick Leahy isn't returning the Constitutional courtesy. The Democratic Senate has confirmed a mere six nominees with no plans in sight to move the remaining 11 forward. . . Democrats figure they'll retake the White House in November, and they don't mind leaving the courts short-handed for another year or two as they stall for liberal nominees.

Mr. Specter says he has recommended that Republicans "go full steam ahead" until Democrats agree to hold confirmation votes. He has in mind a series of procedural stalls that would make it next to impossible for the Senate to get anything done. These could include refusing to accept the usual unanimous consent motion to have the previous day's deliberations entered into the official record without a formal reading, a process that would take hours. So would reading the text of many bills, which can run to hundreds of pages.

The Democrats' slow judicial roll follows their misuse of the filibuster when they were in the minority during the first Bush term. It's also an abuse of the Constitution, which gives the President the responsibility of selecting judges while the Senate has an obligation to vote up or down. "I sided with Clinton on his judges who were competent," Mr. Specter points out. After the judicial wars of the Bush years, this notion seems almost quaint.

Mr. Leahy has taken a far more partisan approach to his responsibilities as chairman, holding just one confirmation hearing since September. . . Nor does Mr. Leahy appear to mind that, of the 11 appeals-court nominees awaiting Senate action, seven would fill seats deemed to be judicial emergencies. One-third of the 15 seats on the Fourth Circuit, covering Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, South Carolina and North Carolina, are vacant. . . .

As for Mr. Specter's plan, there's no guarantee it will work, as Democrats will denounce Republican "gridlock." But it has the advantage of getting the issue of judicial confirmations back in front of the public in an election year. . . .

As we learned in the first Bush term, Senate Democrats are willing to abuse their power to thwart a President's judicial nominations. The only way to get them to move is to force them to pay a political price for their obstructionism.

Read the entire article.

Interesting News - 2 January 2008

I took the serious road in calling Huckabee a cynical and hypocritical politician whom I would not consider for any elected office, let alone President. Scott Ott has a much more humorous take on the Huckster.

Hillary Clinton displays her fundamental failure to grasp what is going on in possibly the most important foreign state today – the nuclear armed Islamic Republic of Pakistan.

In 2006, there were an average of 15 attacks per day on police and emergency services and almost 3,000 police officers were injured in clashes. In addition, an average of 112 cars were torched each day. No, its not Iraq. Its the low grade civil war occurring in France amongst the Muslim population.

Sigmund, Carl and Alfred look at the 11 most corrupt politicians of 2007. It reads like a who's who of Presidential candidates. Most of this post is reposted from Judicial Watch. SC&A adds on of the most contemptible of all politicians, Ted Kennedy, to the list.

Bookworm Room has a thoughtful piece on a world wide phenomena of ADS – America Derangement Syndrome.

As France’s President Sarkozy displays a very much needed tough attitude towards Middle East despots by cutting off relations with Syria, our own Pat Kennedy and Alan Specter make a trip to Damascus. Soccer Dad has the sad story. What useful idiots.

Israeli PM Olmert is planning on giving to Palestinians swatches of territory captured during the 1967 war. All of this has a segment of Israel’s population howling – the Israeli Paletinians. "Asked, "Would you prefer to be a citizen of Israel or of a new Palestinian state?" 62 percent want to remain Israeli citizens and 14 percent want to join a future Palestinian state. Asked, "Do you support transferring the Triangle [an Arab-dominated area in northern Israel] to the Palestinian Authority?" 78 percent oppose the idea and 18 percent support it."

One of the things I find most objectionable about Islam is its refusal to tolerate freedom of any other religion. The latest – which at least does not involve threats of death – comes from Algeria where legislators are asking the government to curb evangelical Christians in their country because they are succeeding in converting Muslims.

The Michael Savage v. CAIR lawsuit just took another turn. "The amended lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Northern California, also charges CAIR with using extortion, threats, abuse of the court system, and obtaining money via interstate commerce under false and fraudulent circumstances – calling it a "political vehicle of international terrorism" and even linking the group with support of al-Qaida." If the judge allows this, discover in this case is going to be something to see.