Daily Kos: What Do You Ask A Blank Slate?What Do You Ask A Blank Slate?
by Armando
Tue Jul 19th, 2005 at 09:08:36 PDT
With rumors everywhere of Bush's choosing Judge Edith Clement of the Fifth Circuit to replace Justice O'Connor on the Supreme Court, it seems extremely likely that a judge with a lot of unexpressed opinions will be the challenge for Democratic Senators. So what do you ask a blank slate? Law professor Bruce Ackerman has some good ideas:
The president has repeatedly promised us justices like Clarence Thomas or Antonin Scalia, and I propose to take him at his word. If we simply take the trouble to read their opinions, it becomes evident that a Court dominated by Thomases and Scalias would launch a constitutional revolution on a scale unknown since the New Deal.
The Senate should also take the president seriously. Bush has already told us the kind of justices he wants, and if he has had a last-minute change of heart, it should be up to individual nominees to convince us that they are not in the Thomas-Scalia mold.
Placing this burden on the nominee permits senators to define a more decorous and consequential role for themselves in giving "advise and consent." Rather than browbeating nominees, senators should take the president at his word, unless the candidate convinces them otherwise. They should repeatedly confront nominees with the opinions of Thomas and Scalia, and ask them to state, clearly and without equivocation, whether they agree or disagree. This approach would focus public attention on the main issue: the sweeping revolution promised by a Thomas-Scalia ascendancy...
I agree. Let Scalia and Thomas be the measuring stick. Bush established that those 2 Justices were his ideal. For Dems, those 2 Justices define extreme right wing activists - the very definition of extraordinary when their views in the majority promise a radical sea change in Constitutional jurisprudence.
Let's find out how much Judge Clement agrees or disagrees wth Scalia and Thomas.
* ::
No comments:
Post a Comment