ConfirmThem

Posted at 6:32pm on Sep. 17, 2009 Constitution Day

By AndrewHyman

John Vile put it this way:

Whereas officers in some dictatorships pledge personal allegiance to their leaders, American officers, like the President himself, pledge first and foremost to uphold the Constitution of the United States. In this way, they affirm that the rule of law is superior to the rule of a human leader.

Well said.

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Posted at 11:21pm on Sep. 4, 2009 Underneath Their Robes

By AndrewHyman

There's some discussion at the end of this September 3, 2009 video about attire of the female justices. It probably wouldn't matter much if the justices were to show up in transparent robes (or birthday suits), but still there's some merit in plain black robes without frills. That tradition of plain black robes without frills was introduced by Chief Justice John Marshall, and Chief Justice Roberts has explained the reason:

[J]udges wear black robes because it doesn't matter who they are as individuals. That's not going to shape their decision. It's their understanding of the law that will shape their decision.

This is not a huge issue, of course, but the tradition seems wise. If male justices have a low collar that allows them to show off their neckties underneath the robes, then female justices can put on something underneath their robes that also is visible with the same low collar. The robe itself ought to remain plain black, per Marshall and Roberts and every chief justice in between (except for Rehnquist who was "jealous of the Court's female justices" who had broken with tradition). Is an outfit grounds for impeachment? Probably not. But Judge Patricia Wald has the right idea:

“[t]he black robes we wear on the bench unite us in their lack of distinguishability; they make a simple but striking point: We are neither Democratic judges nor Republican judges but, simply, United States judges.” ---Judge Patricia Wald

And Justice Stephen Breyer has a similar viewpoint:

“I have always thought that one of the reasons we wear black robes is that justice should be anonymous. The rule of law should be independent of the personality of the judge that happens to be hearing the case." ---Justice Stephen Breyer

Breyer is 100% right about this. Yes, I just agreed with Justice Breyer about something.

Hat Tip: Orin Kerr at Volokh Conspiracy.

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Posted at 1:11am on Aug. 10, 2009 Schumer Said to Be Preparing Nuclear Option, Plus Cato Commentary About Sotomayor

By AndrewHyman

The Weekly Standard blog has a post titled, "Schumer Preparing for Nuclear Option to Ram Through Health-Care Bill." That blog post seems somewhat speculative, and Schumer hasn't explicity threatened it.

Meanwhile, Ilya Shapiro of the Cato Institute has some comments about the Sotomayor confirmation hearings. Here are some excerpts, with which I tend to agree:

All Americans should take pride in seeing our first Hispanic Supreme Court justice (not counting Benjamin Cardozo). While this moment should have belonged to Miguel Estrada—who was denied even a vote by an unprecedented Democratic filibuster—we should nevertheless celebrate Sonia Sotomayor’s rise from very humble beginnings to reach the highest court in the land....In walking away from so many controversial positions, Sonia Sotomayor established a new standard to which all future nominees will at least have to pay lip service. While confirmation was almost a foregone conclusion from the start because of the Democrats’ strong Senate majority, the Republicans played well the cards they had been dealt by engaging in a serious discussion about constitutional interpretation and jurisprudential philosophy.

Judicial opinions to follow.

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Posted at 11:38pm on Aug. 9, 2009 Open Thread

By AndrewHyman

Chat.

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Posted at 6:21pm on Aug. 9, 2009 Legitimacy of Justice Sotomayor's Appointment

By AndrewHyman

I suppose that some people (not me!) will now question Justice Sotomayor's legitimacy as a member of the Supreme Court, due to what they allege is President Obama's dubious eligibility. Here's what Andrew Sullivan wrote on July 29 about this:

It is our job to demand all the evidence we want or need. I know the electronic record is legit. I have no doubt that Obama has every constitutional right to be president. I think the Birthers are nuts. But there is no reason on earth that the original cannot be retrieved and shown. Jon Klein and CNN were wrong, and I retract my apology of yesterday. Obama promised total transparency. Where is it?

I agree with that statement by Andrew Sullivan entirely, even though he has since backtracked. On July 28, a news report in the Honolulu Advertiser stated:

One thing that remains unclear is whether Obama has a copy of the original 1961 Certificate of Live Birth, or if he would even be allowed to see it if he asked.

One would think that the American media would have sufficient resources to provide us with a simple answer to a simple question.

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Posted at 1:51am on Aug. 6, 2009 Sotomayor Confirmation Vote Will Probably Be Today

By AndrewHyman

Looks like Judge Sotomayor will be confirmed today by the Senate. Of the 40 GOP Senators, 31 oppose, eight support (Alexander, Bond, Collins, Graham, Gregg, Lugar, Martinez, and Snowe), and one has not announced (Voinovich). Click on the name of any of the GOP Senators for their explanations....

Alexander, Barrasso, Bennett, Brownback, Bond, Bunning, Burr, Chambliss, Coburn, Cochran, Collins, Corker, Cornyn, Crapo, DeMint, Enzi, Ensign, Graham, Grassley, Gregg, Hatch, Hutchison, Inhofe, Isakson, Johanns, Kyl, Lugar, Martinez, McCain, McConnell, Murkowski, Risch, Roberts, Sessions, Shelby, Snowe, Thune, Vitter, and Wicker.

UPDATE: The final vote was 68-31. Congratulations to Judge Sotomayor, who will become Justice Sotomayor on Saturday. I hope the Supreme Court agrees to hear the appeal of her decision in Maloney v. Rice, and reverses it. She opined in that case that the right to keep and bear arms is not a "fundamental" right, without citing any Supreme Court decision for that particular conclusion, and without giving any significant explanation. She was very well-spoken during her confirmation hearing, but her opinions in cases like Maloney and Ricci lead me to believe that her actual work on the Court will be considerably legislative. Here's hoping I'm wrong.

UPDATE #2: Here is the statement of Senator Voinovich, who was the last GOP Senator to decide.

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Posted at 2:36pm on Aug. 3, 2009 McCain To Vote "No" On Sotomayor Nomination

By AndrewHyman

Sen. John McCain's statement is here. It's a very thoughtful and persuasive explanation.

I've posted links to statements by other GOP senators here.

Hat Tip: Bench Memos.

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Posted at 3:33pm on Jul. 12, 2009 Reminders About the Sotomayor Nomination

By AndrewHyman

This blog is obviously for supporting nominees, and since we probably won't be supporting confirmation of Judge Sotomayor, there's not much point in saying a whole heck of a lot here, especially before the hearings begin.

But, feel free to discuss the nomination in the comments section. I very highly recommend reading what Ed Whelan has had to say about the Sotomayor nomination. Following are some further links to relevant background material on Sonia Sotomayor, that I've plagiarized from the Federalist Society....

Nomination to the Supreme Court (2009):

Remarks upon the Announcement of Sotomayor's Nomination, May 26, 2009

Judiciary Committee Questionnaire, June 4, 2009

Supplement to Judiciary Committee Questionnaire, June 19, 2009

Letter from Judge Sotomayor, re: Belizean Grove, June 19, 2009

Nomination to the Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (1997-1998):

Judiciary Committee Questionnaire, part 1, 1997

Judiciary Committee Questionnaire, part 2, 1997

Transcript from Judiciary Committee Hearing, September 1997

Nomination to the District Court for the Southern District of New York (1991-1992):

Judiciary Committee Questionnaire, 1991

Addendum to Judiciary Committee Questionnaire, 1991

Transcript from Judiciary Committee Hearing, June 1992

Other:

Judge Sotomayor's Nomination to the Supreme Court, Senate Judiciary Committee

"Reports on Judge Sotomayor's Record," SCOTUSBLOG, July 7, 2009

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Posted at 3:55pm on Jun. 8, 2009 Open Thread

By AndrewHyman

Comment away. :-)

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Posted at 12:35pm on May 11, 2009 Big Second Amendment Case Coming Up

By AndrewHyman

See www.ArmsKeepers.org. I hope you all are enjoying Spring and Summer! Cheers.

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Posted at 12:50pm on Mar. 10, 2009 Unions at the high court

By Quin

As if we don't already know how many areas of life the Supreme Court can mess up, here's my latest on last month's Ysursa decision -- a win for the right side, but one where Souter and Breyer opened the door for another crack at it.
http://www.dcexaminer.com/opinion/columns/QuinHillyer/Unions-lose-a-batt...

It's also worth noting that two other big union-related cases are right now subject to petitions for cert grants: Adcock v Freightliner and Mackay v. Aircraft Mechanics. I don't have the links, but look'em up....

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Posted at 3:47pm on Mar. 4, 2009 Ted Cruz for Texas AG

By Feddie

Let me be blunt. If Texans do not elect Ted Cruz as the state's next attorney general, they do not deserve to live in that fine state.

Ted Cruz is a jurisprudential rock star. His credentials are beyond impressive, and Texans are fortunate to have someone of his caliber offer himself up for public service (yet again). To put it plainly, Ted Cruz is one of the most talented lawyers in the United States, and I encourage all of SA's many Texas readers to strongly support his bid to become the next attorney general of your state.

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Posted at 11:21am on Feb. 24, 2009 Open Thread

By Quin

Have at it, people.

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Posted at 3:02pm on Feb. 5, 2009 Best Wishes to Justice Ginsburg

By Quin

Sad news: http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D965IOJ00&show_article=1.
Pancreatic cancer is usually a very bad thing. Our prayers are with the Justice.

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Posted at 10:44am on Jan. 30, 2009 Specter to Obama: Renominate!

By Quin

As reported by our friend Curt Levey, Arlen Specter is now pushing (http://www.committeeforjustice.com/blog/2009/01/specter-to-obama-renomin...) President Obama to renominate up to three Bush judicial nominees: Paul Diamond, Glen Conrad or Peter Keisler.

As a frequent advocate (http://www.dcexaminer.com/opinion/columns/QuinHillyer/Quin-essential_cas...) of such renominations, especially for Keisler (http://www.examiner.com/a-1278077~Quin_Hillyer__Judge_knot_still_holds.h...) , I wholeheartedly applaud Specter.

That said, why do I suspect a deal is in the works? Why do I suspect that Conrad and Keisler are window dressing for Specter's letter?

Note that Diamond is a Pennsylvania pick, under Specter's purview -- and a very late pick at that: http://www.confirmthem.com/pratter_out_diamond_in.

Diamond and Specter go back together for 30 years. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_S._Diamond) . And elevating Diamond also clears the way for a district judgeship for another longtime Specter insider, Carolyn Short (http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202423251503) -- who, it must be noted, has very significant Democratic ties herself. But there is no evidence that either Diamond or Short is particularly conservative. They certainly aren't conservative to the same degree that Roger Gregory (the Clinton nominee renominated by Bush) is liberal. But by appointing Diamond and Short both, Obama could claim to have met Bush's record of bipartisan olive branches on the judiciary -- withOUT really angering the left to the same extent that, say, a renomination of North Carolina's Robert Conrad (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_J._Conrad) would.(MORE)

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Posted at 3:33pm on Jan. 12, 2009 Renominate, renominate, renominate!

By Quin

Is this a groundswell: http://spectator.org/blog/2009/01/12/nominate-a-bush-judge

PS I thought I had just posted this, but it didn't seem to actually make it on site, so I re-posted. If it turns up twice, forgive me....

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Posted at 10:43am on Jan. 5, 2009 Judge Griffin Bell, RIP

By Feddie

Griffin Bell was a truly great man, and he will be dearly missed by his family and friends.

I was fortunate enough to meet and interview Judge Bell while working on an essay about his tenure on the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which you can read here. I cannot even begin to describe what a generous and warm person he was during our brief time together. Indeed, one of the greatest compliments I've ever received about my writing was from Judge Bell, who loved the essay I had written about him.

The United States has lost a great patriot, and the South has lost one of her modern-day heroes.

Please take a moment today to say a prayer for Judge Bell's family and friends.

God Bless you Judge Bell. Requiescat in pace.

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Posted at 2:43pm on Dec. 19, 2008 Welcome Back Open Thread

By aurel

We were off-line for a while. So this is the Welcome Back Open Thread. All yours. . .

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Posted at 9:25am on Dec. 5, 2008 Weekend Open Thread

By aurel

All yours...

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Posted at 4:43pm on Nov. 21, 2008 Open Thread

By aurel

Fire away.

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Posted at 11:10am on Nov. 17, 2008 Site Will Continue! Yea!

By Quin

I have been reliably informed by Erick Erickson, major domo of ConfirmThem's excellent parent site, RedState, that this site will indeed continue as a live site. yea! Hats off to Erick. And hats off to all you readers who keep the conversation lively and erudite. You are the real stars of this show.

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Posted at 11:44am on Nov. 12, 2008 Keep This Site Going!

By Quin

To Andrew, and to the proprietors at Red State: I vote to keep this site going. Even its name should stay the same, as a sort of ironic inside joke reminding everybody that we had to work this hard just to get qualified judges to receive semi-fair consideration. (If the name is just TOO weird, then just put a question amrk after it, as in "Confirm Them??") But from now on, this site could still be used to discuss information about Obama nominees, and to warn if any of them are particularly egregious, etc.

To all the readers out there, I invite you to comment below with many rounds of hearty approval for my suggestion!

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Posted at 12:36am on Nov. 5, 2008 A Confirmthem Blogger Goes on Sabbatical

By AndrewHyman

Here's a link to Senator McCain's very gracious and moving concession speech. He said: "I call on all Americans, as I have often in this campaign, to not despair of our present difficulties, but to believe, always, in the promise and greatness of America, because nothing is inevitable here." The present difficulties are grave, and they have virtually nothing to do with economics, in my opinion. But that issue is what decided the election, so there you have it.

It's been an honor volunteering at this web site. As Senator McCain pointed out, nothing is inevitable in this country, so please don't give up hope that truth and justice will ultimately prevail if we keep at it. The election of an African-American president is testament enough that wrongs can be righted, even wrongs endorsed by that new president.

Congratulations to President George W. Bush on some fine judicial appointments, and to Senator John McCain for running a valiant campaign. And congratulations to the other bloggers and commenters at this site who have tried to give them some support.

I'll take leave of blogging at this site for the foreseeable future. We'll get back together when a president nominates judges who have a solid record of supporting the rule of law instead of the rule of men, and who understand the grave damage done when judges exercise power without authority. In the following obnoxious video, replace "President" with "Supreme Court" to see how judges often operate nowadays:

Even if Supreme Court decisions were ipso facto legal (which they are not), that would never begin to justify decisions like Roe v. Wade or Planned Parenthood v. Casey. Those decisions --- even though well-intentioned --- grossly mischaracterized the killing of post-embryonic human lives as a fundamental "right." No decision could possibly be more wrong.

Empowerment or equality of a citizen never requires that the citizen be given a license to commit homicide against a non-threatening victim. The other two branches of the federal government may soon (for the first time) fall in line and endorse that judicial mistake, but the mistake will one day be corrected. Although I am not a Christian, I will quote some pertinent words of Jesus Christ: "forgive them, for they know not what they do."

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Posted at 3:18pm on Nov. 1, 2008 Confirmthem May Soon Get Another Lease on Life --- Or Not

By AndrewHyman

Well, depending upon what happens on Tuesday, it appears that confirmthem may be going into some very deep hibernation pretty soon. There’s an outside chance that that will not happen, but I wouldn’t be placing any heavy bets at this point. MAKE SURE YOU VOTE ON TUESDAY!

I have been very disappointed in Obama’s campaign, and am even more disappointed about what an Obama administration would likely do to this country and the judiciary. It would be wonderful to have someone of his ethnicity as president, but that is no reason to vote for him. And having a female Veep would be wonderful too! I feel like Obama and his allies have treated the voters like mushrooms: keeping us in the dark and feeding us manure. In contrast, John McCain has run a mostly valiant campaign, and perhaps it might yet prevail.

One of Obama’s biggest allies --- the Los Angeles Times --- will not even release a transcript of Obama remarks that it has on videotape. If you don’t think you’re being treated like a mushroom, just listen to prominent Democrat Pat Caddell who said the following on Friday:

Let's assume for a moment that they claim that they had an agreement in their source not to release the tape. Why not the transcript? …. I'm just saying why not release the transcript…. Well, the point is why don't you just release the transcript? That's — that would be the end of this…. If somebody gives you a tape and it allows to you write a story on it you have the right to run the transcript. That's all I'm saying, the — the issue here is journalism and it's the right of the people to know.

And the following video illustrates another outrageous reason why the Obama campaign may win the election and put this website out of business, by its secret and illegal fundraising shenanigans.

And Michael Patrick Leahy explains yet another way that Obama has been treating us all like mushrooms (Obama ought to release his original long-form birth certificate just like McCain has done). Grrr. [Obama was a trans-oceanic traveller during the month he was born, and Hawaii newspaper notices of his birth were automatically printed whenever a parent requested a birth certificate, but here is very compelling proof that he was born in Hawaii. ---AH, 3/1/2009.]

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Posted at 10:25pm on Oct. 29, 2008 Scary Obama Picks

By Curt Levey

An article in November’s ABA Journal, “The Lawyers Who May Run America,” names Harvard Law Professor and Anita Hill counsel Charles Ogletree as the most likely Obama pick to head DOJ’s civil rights division. Hans Bader of the Competitive Enterprise Institute explains why that prospect should concern us.

Almost as disturbing is the Journal’s speculation about Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick as Obama’s Attorney General and Professor Cass Sunstein as White House Domestic Policy Adviser. The article also names the very scary Second Circuit Judge Sonia Sotomayor as a top Obama Supreme Court prospect.

For the Journal’s speculation about McCain picks, see here.

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Posted at 8:17am on Oct. 29, 2008 Courting the right message

By Quin

Today at NRO, Ed Whelan has the best summation I've seen yet (better than any I've done) on what's at stake in the courts if Obama wins. Great stuff: http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=YzAyNTQ3NGM3ODFlOGFkY2QwNmQ4ZGI1MzN...

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Posted at 12:23am on Oct. 28, 2008 Obama Would Preserve, Protect, and Defend the Constitution?

By AndrewHyman

There's been quite a lot of discussion recently about Senator Obama's 2001 radio interview endorsing wealth redistribution, and implying that the Warren Court could have gone a lot farther than it did. Anyway, here are the full, unedited radio interviews from 2001. He's obviously a very smart fellow, but I think it would be best to keep him in the Senate.

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Posted at 12:05am on Oct. 25, 2008 A Couple Items From the New Republic

By AndrewHyman

Jeffrey Rosen gets at least one thing right in his article in the latest issue of The New Republic:

This year, for the first time since the New Deal era, a single election really does have the power to transform the Court--at the very moment that voters, rightly concerned about the tanking economy and the war in Iraq, are looking the other way.

And, the New Republic also has some positive polling news for McCain-Palin:

Strategic Vision has McCain narrowly ahead in both Florida and Ohio, and gaining ground in Pennslyvania. Strategic Vision is a Republican polling firm, and indeed has had a 2-3 point Republican lean this cycle, but nevertheless, these represent significant improvements for McCain in all three states from Strategic Vision's last set of polling. Rasmussen, meanwhile, has him narrowly ahead in North Carolina -- actually the first North Carolina poll that he's led in some time -- and closing his difference with Obama in New Hampshire, where his taxation message may be selling well.

So, it's still very much an open question who will win the election, though Obama definitely seems to have an edge now.

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Posted at 8:10pm on Oct. 24, 2008 I'd Like to Spread a Silly Rumor

By AndrewHyman

There's a silly rumor going around that Sen. Obama was born at Coast Hospital in Mombasa, Kenya and that his paternal grandmother has confirmed it.

Senator Obama long ago released what is known as a short-form birth certificate from Hawaii. However, he has not released his long-form birth certificate from Hawaii. Why not release it? John McCain's is already publicly available. I'm 99% sure that Obama is a natural born citizen of the United States, but it's strange that he's refusing to prove it.

National Review's Andy McCarthy has weighed in about this, and so has Greta Van Sustern of Fox News. The short form released by Obama is here. An example of a long form birth certificate from Hawaii is here.

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Posted at 3:20pm on Oct. 23, 2008 DoJ, Home of Lefties

By Quin

On Tuesday I wrote this column: http://www.dcexaminer.com/opinion/columns/QuinHillyer/Quin-essential_cas..., on how and why the Ohio Sec. of State is getting away with condoning vote fraud. Turns out that I actually UNDERreported the DoJ bias in favor of Obama, http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2008/10/justice-defense-department-emp.h..., which helps explain why so little has been done about vote fraud, especially in Ohio.

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