Chairman Kennedy?
By AndrewHyman Posted in News — Comments (5) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
If the Senate changes hands, so too would the Judiciary Committee. Byron York reported a few years ago:
Most observers believe that the committee's current ranking member, Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, will become chairman. But there is also a chance that Sen. Edward Kennedy, who chaired the committee two decades ago, will get the job....First elected to the Senate in 1962, Kennedy could use his seniority to grab the chairmanship of the Judiciary Committee, if he chooses. Now, some Republicans find themselves in the ironic position of hoping that Kennedy, long the liberal nemesis of the GOP, becomes chairman. "He's actually better than Leahy," says one senior Republican aide, expressing the hope that chairman Kennedy would be more moderate than chairman Leahy.
In case you've forgotten, here's a transcript of Kennedy badgering Justice Alito about Vanguard. And, here's video of Kennedy tangling with Senator Specter during the Alito hearing. Another interesting video is this one of Kennedy ranting about Justice Alito on the Senate floor.
Check out this related news item that appeared on October 4, 2006:
Among the threats to judicial independence that Alito cited in his half-hour speech is the use of unfounded ethical charges to impugn the integrity of judges and judicial nominees. "This is extremely damaging," Alito said. "People who go into public service, people who go into a judicial career, cherish their reputations as ethical people." The judge acknowledged that people who commit genuine ethical violations should be exposed and disciplined. But he added that "to use unfounded ethical charges, which a member of the judiciary is in a poor position to answer, as a weapon to defeat a nominee or to denigrate a sitting judge, is a tactic that ought to be condemned."
Well said, Justice Alito.
Kennedy over Leahy
by Outsider
I will tell you why (although the scenario is still quite hypothetical). Kennedy is a besotted fool with an indelible over-the-top ultra-liberal reputation. He has no shred of credibilitity nor respectability with most non-liberal, non-Kool Aid drinkers. As Chairman he would be a certified disaster at televised hearings. Leahy is every bit as liberal and a partisan of liberal activist judges, but he presents a more plausible even-handed facade which may well dupe the non-cognescenti in the public, and provide a smokescreen for total liberal obstruction.
But at root the above distinction doesn't really matter. If Dems win next week it's virtually all over, no conservative SC or COA nominee will even get to the Senate floor. It never should have come to this, but our only recourse now is to cross our fingers next Tuesday, then cross our hearts and pray for one more Session and one more chance.
I'd say you nailed it
by bk
For whatever few average Joes watch things like SC hearings, Leahy comes across as this caring grandfatherly type who is trying hard to be fair. In reality he is just Kennedy without the drunken combativeness. It would be much better in my mind if we had a blithering idiot like Kennedy getting more face time to remind people how out of touch the Democrats have become and to remind Republicans what they get when they cave in to Democrats.
face time
by MF
The key is that virtually none of the average Joes watch judicial hearings. Heck, I'm pretty politically savvy and aware, yet I don't have time to watch ridiculous political posturing. I just read summaries -- from reliable sources like CT. I don't even watch nightly news, where they at least provide little snippets that the average Joes see. Of course those support the liberal position...
Specter
by Dienekes
and Chairman Specter is much less likely to be accomodating to Tedward than he is to Leaky, imo.
Ted Kennedy as the new SJC chairman? I'd like someone to explain to me just why they think Kennedy would be better than Leahy. Although I don't like Leahy, his speeches come across as a lot less hysterical than those of Kennedy. Sometimes Kennedy sounds like he's on the verge of a nervous breakdown as he foams at the mouth over far-right wing extremist radical judicial nominees. I think Nan Aron is his speech writer.