Kmiec and Obama
By AndrewHyman Posted in Analysis and Predictions — Comments (4) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
Douglas Kmiec has written a statement endorsing Barack Obama. This will probably not start a stampede from the GOP to Obama. I certainly hope not.
Kmiec was an official in the Reagan Justice Department, and he was also a leading supporter of Mitt Romney (I supported Romney too). The folks at Powerline find Kmiec's statement "vacuous." And bloggers at National Review have been using phrases like "off his rocker" and "sour grapes."
Here's my take on it. Kmiec says that he's grown "tired" of the "lack of measurable progress on respect for life" under GOP presidents. But McCain has been very clear about his judicial philosophy and about human dignity. Kmiec also mistakenly believes that McCain is unsympathetic to illegal immigrants, is committed to a lengthy "military occupation" of Iraq, and is indifferent to climate change. Actually, McCain's concern about climate change is well known, as is his (perhaps excessive) sympathy for illegal immigrants. And, McCain has said that any long-term troop presence in Iraq would depend on agreement from the Iraqi government, and would presume that "Americans are not being injured or harmed or wounded or killed."
Kmiec opposes McCain's position on the Second Amendment too. Professor Kmiec mistakenly denies that the Second Amendment includes an individual right to use guns in self-defense. He, unlike Obama, apparently finds that right elsewhere in the Constitution: "the natural law of the American Constitution prescribes the right of self-preservation." But cases like Dred Scott, Lochner, and Roe v. Wade have shown that the undefined and subjective commands of natural law should guide legislators, rather than be used against legislators by judges. Kmiec says that natural law is embodied in the Ninth Amendment, but that's just not what the Ninth Amendment says (that amendment is plainly a rule about how to construe the enumerated rights so as not to enlarge the enumerated powers).
Whacker77
by BoBo
Bruce Fein is another Reagan lawyer who has gone overboard in supporting liberal causes. Also, does anyone remember a certain Reagan secretary of the navy who now is a Democratic senator?
In general, I would not worry about Kmeic's endorsement of either John Roberts or Sam Alito. The proof is in the pudding - both Roberts and Alito have so far voted in just the right way in all of the major cases they have heard on the Supreme Court.
http://www.roanoke.com/editorials/commentary/wb/155709
"Sens. Warner and Webb must now cooperate with their Senate colleagues to facilitate Agee's confirmation. For example, the senators might request that Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., the Judiciary Committee chairman, expedite panel consideration of Agee.
The committee should thoroughly and carefully investigate the nominee. The panel should concomitantly encourage the American Bar Association to complete its evaluation as soon as feasible. The committee should also schedule prompt hearings and a committee vote for Agee. Warner and Webb as well should urge Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., the Democratic majority leader, to schedule an expeditious floor debate and vote.
Now that Bush has followed the recommendations of Virginia's two senators by nominating Agee, the chief executive should work closely with Warner and Webb to guarantee prompt confirmation."
Medellin Case
by zendari
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080325/ap_on_go_su_co/scotus_mexican_nation...
Court backs Texas in dispute with Bush
Bush was in the unusual position of siding with death row prisoner Jose Ernesto Medellin, a Mexican citizen whom police prevented from consulting with Mexican diplomats, as provided by international treaty.
An international court ruled in 2004 that the convictions of Medellin and 50 other Mexicans on death row around the United States violated the 1963 Vienna Convention, which provides that people arrested abroad should have access to their home country's consular officials. The International Court of Justice, also known as the world court, said the Mexican prisoners should have new court hearings to determine whether the violation affected their cases.
Bush, who oversaw 152 executions as Texas governor, disagreed with the decision. But he said it must be carried out by state courts because the United States had agreed to abide by the world court's rulings in such cases. The administration argued that the president's declaration is reason enough for Texas to grant Medellin a new hearing.
Stevens was apparently in the majority.
This strange endorsement, sour grapes most likely, might lead some of us to wonder if we should worry about his endorsement of Sam Alito. It seems impossible to me that support for both Alito and Obama is possible. While both may be men of character, they don't share the same judicial philosophy. How can a former Reagan lawyer, who most likely accepts the notion of originalism, support a candidate who will nominate judges who believe in a living document?