Posted by
Steve on Saturday, February 09, 2008 1:08:00 PM
One of the arguments that people use to justify voting for John McCain is the judges he will appoint. They always say he will appoint conservative judges. The conservative judges would be better than the liberal judges that Obama or Clinton would appoint, they argue.
There is some truth to that argument. The judges appointed by John McCain would be more conservative than those appointed by Obama or Clinton. The point is that they would not necessarily be conservative judges. They would more likely be a David Souter or Justice Kennedy type of judge, one who was conservative until they get to the bench, then turn liberal.
John McCain has already said that he would not appoint another Sam Alito to the bench. Sam Alito is a conservative, strict constructionist judge. He is exactly the type of judge that should be appointed to the bench. If John McCain will not appoint the type of judge that is necessary, why should we let him appoint judges at all?
People supporting John McCain point to Ted Olson as a reason that John McCain will appoint conservative, strict constructionist judges, Ted Olson is a well respected lawyer. If Ted Olson had the final say on who was selected as a judge, I would agree with their position. Unfortunately, Ted Olson would not have the final say in which judge was selected. The hope would be that he would recommend two or three judges to John McCain that would be excellent and McCain would pick from that group. That could be how it works and if so, the supporters are right. But, if left to John McCain to select judges from a long list, he will select the most liberal on the list. The trick is to make the list short enough and with only conservative judges on the list. That would be difficult to do.
The problem with John McCain picking judges is that Republican lawmakers would feel obligated to support whoever he picked. If Obama or Clinton picked a nominee that was really bad, the Republicans would know enough (I hope) to fight against that nominee. The only problem with that thinking is that Republicans have not shown a backbone in Congress in I don’t know how long. Every now and then, they surprise me and do something right. Then they go out and do something stupid. Their track record is to do something stupid far more than doing something right. The Democrats on the other hand ALWAYS do the stupid thing when given an option. They are so consistent you can bank on it.
The issues the court needs to decide include McCain-Feingold. McCain-Feingold is unconstitutional to anyone with an education over that of first grade. Anyone who can read will understand that McCain-Feingold is unconstitutional. The first amendment says that, “Congress shall make no law abridging freedom of speech.” McCain would not want to appoint a judge that would find his signature law unconstitutional. That would tend to make him appoint judges that would legislate from the bench. Those are the worst kind of judges as they make up law as they go. In other words the goal posts are always moving. People need to have goal posts that are set in stone and do not move. That is why strict constructionist judges are so important and why I have doubts about John McCain.