NYT editorial: Voters sent clear message they do not want far Right calling shots in Washington....

[DeepModem Mom]

yet Bush resubmits "archconservative, underqualified judicial nominees."

Still Waiting for Bipartisanship
Published: November 17, 2006

The voters sent a clear message last week that they do not want the far right of the Republican Party calling the shots in Washington. But President Bush has ignored the message, resubmitting a group of archconservative, underqualified judicial nominees that Senate Democrats have already said are unacceptable. With the Democrats about to take control of the Senate, it is highly unlikely that these men will be confirmed. But the renominations suggest that when it comes to filling judgeships, Mr. Bush is still not looking for either excellence or common ground.

The four most controversial nominees that President Bush resubmitted are ideological in the extreme. William Myers III, a longtime lobbyist for mining and timber interests, would no doubt use his position on the San Francisco-based United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to gut environmental laws. William Haynes II, who helped develop the administration’s torture and “enemy combatant” policies as the top lawyer for the Pentagon, could be counted on to undermine both civil liberties and reasonable limits on executive power.

Terrence Boyle, a district court judge in North Carolina and a former aide to Senator Jesse Helms, has a long record of insensitivity to victims of race and disability discrimination. He would be able to pull the law in the wrong direction in these areas if he became an appeals court judge. Michael Wallace, a former lawyer for Senator Trent Lott, Republican of Mississippi, has a bad civil rights record, including arguing in favor of letting Bob Jones University, which discriminated on the basis of race, keep its tax-exempt status.

Beyond their ideology, these nominees embody values that the American people rejected in the midterm elections. The voters were angry about the influence of lobbyists and special interests. But Mr. Myers would bring that influence onto a powerful appeals court. The voters were upset about the incompetence this administration has shown on everything from Iraq to Hurricane Katrina. But Mr. Wallace is the very rare appeals court nominee to receive a unanimous “not qualified” rating from the American Bar Association....

***

Senator Charles Schumer, Democrat of New York, has said that “the days of hard-right judges” are over, and when Democrats take over in the Senate, he will be in a position to see that they are.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/17/opinion/17fri1.html?hp

[Old and In the Way]

1. Another benefit that's little discussed,,,,,we've stopped the RW

drift of the courts...I want to see every nomination scrutinized and any radical right judge stuffed from here to 2008.

[calimary]

2. Me, TOO! That, alone, could save our country.

Something that went into the garbage heap last week: fucking with our courts, and packing them with Neanderthals. Rubberstamping is SO yesterday, georgie (just like YOU).

[PSPS]

3. That's right. These goons will never get out of committee.

Unless, of course, Lieberman switches sides. Then all the committees will revert to republican control, and we'll be back to the rubber stamp.

Don't forget that another third of the senate is up for reelection in '08, so there's another batch of crooks we can dispatch and render Lieberman irrelevant.

[texpatriot2004]

4. "bi-partisanship" from * nm