ConfirmThem -

Open Thread

AndrewHyman — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 16:55:34 -0400

Comment away. :-)

Interesting Article by Charlie Savage

AndrewHyman — Wed, 27 May 2009 21:40:17 -0400

Apparently, there were no litmus tests, for which President Obama deserves praise.

On the Sotomayor appointment

Feddie — Tue, 26 May 2009 12:07:03 -0400

My take on the appointment? She's the best of the worst. Judge Sotomayor will almost certainly be a reliably liberal vote on the hot-button social issues, but she's not going to play a leading role in shaping the jurisprudence of the Court (like Judge Diane Wood almost certainly would have done).

Big Second Amendment Case Coming Up

AndrewHyman — Mon, 11 May 2009 13:35:32 -0400

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

Kathleen Sullivan: SCOTUS or 9th Circuit?

Curt Levey — Wed, 06 May 2009 09:02:06 -0400

The subplot to yesterday’s announcement that Michael McConnell is leaving the Tenth Circuit is that he will be replacing Law Professor Kathleen Sullivan as Director of Stanford’s Constitutional Law Center. It’s hard to imagine that the ultra-liberal Sullivan is happy about being replaced by the conservative McConnell. That leads me to speculate – until I hear otherwise – that either Sullivan was forced out or, more likely, that she anticipates leaving Stanford in the near future, probably for an appointment by President Obama. Sullivan could almost surely have secured a high-ranking position in the Obama Justice Department, but didn’t, so I’m guessing her interest lies with the federal bench.

The nightmare scenario is that Sullivan expects to be named to fill Justice Souter’s seat on the Supreme Court. She is often listed among the leading contenders. My guess is that President Obama is too much of a pragmatist to name Sullivan, who has been a leading advocate of gay marriage in California, to the High Court. In that case, she may well be anticipating appointment to the Ninth Circuit, where she’ll fit right in.

Obama Sticks to his Activism Pledge

Curt Levey — Sat, 02 May 2009 03:07:38 -0400

This was my advice to President Obama yesterday:

[N]ow would be a good time for you to clarify if you feel that you may have gone too far by endorsing judicial activism. For example, you could make it clear that you agree with Attorney General Eric Holder’s recent statement that ‘judges should make their decisions based only on the facts presented and the applicable law.’

I guess he wasn’t listening:

‘I will seek someone who understands that justice isn’t about some abstract legal theory or footnote in a casebook,’ Mr. Obama said during an unscheduled appearance [yesterday] in the White House briefing room. ‘It is also about how our laws affect the daily realities of people’s lives.’

Justice Souter to Step Down?

aurel — Fri, 01 May 2009 00:13:31 -0400

Reliable rumor has it that Justice David Souter, nominated by President George H.W. Bush but a reliable liberal vote on the Court, is intending to step down at the end of this term.

Story here.

Likely candidates for replacing Souter: Sotamayor, Kagen, Wood (in that order of likelihood).

Discuss below...

Rethinking Impeachment

Curt Levey — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 22:02:13 -0400

Adding to a growing chorus of left-wing whacko voices, Rep. Jerry Nadler (D – NY) called today for the impeachment of Ninth Circuit Judge Jay Bybee, who headed DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel when it produced the “torture memos” released last week. Frighteningly, Rep. Nadler chairs the House Judiciary Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties. Said Nadler of OLC’s memos,

It was not an honest legal memo. It was an instruction manual on how to break the law.

What struck me is that if you change two words in Nadler’s description – “memo” to “opinion” and “break” to “subvert” – you have a perfect description of what the Supreme Court’s liberal justices do regularly when they write opinions in ideologically charged cases.

Assuming arguendo that the Nadler is right, any damage done to American law by Bybee’s memos has since been undone. Sadly, the same cannot be said of the damage done to the Constitution by liberal Supreme Court justices.

I’ve never supported impeaching judges for bad or even disingenuous legal reasoning – the charge against Jay Bybee. But if Nadler and his Democratic colleagues promise to apply such a standard even-handedly, I might be persuaded to change my mind.

Levey/Shaw Debate in NYC Tomorrow

Curt Levey — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 21:33:41 -0400

Civil rights icon Ted Shaw and I will be debating “The Future of Diversity Under Obama” tomorrow April 1 at noon and 6 pm in Manhattan. The evening debate at Clifford Chance will focus on racial and gender preferences in law firm hiring and promotion. The noon debate at Columbia Law School will focus on affirmative action in higher education.

If you’re in the area, come watch the debates. It would be nice to have a friendly face or two in what’s sure to be a hostile audience.

Clifford Chance is at 31 W. 52 Street, between 5th and 6th Avenues. The debate is in the 4th Floor Conference Center. RSVP to CCEvents@cliffordchance.com.

The Columbia debate is in room 107 of Jerome Greene Hall on the northeast corner of Amsterdam Ave. and W. 116th Street (directions here).

Hamilton is no "moderate"

Feddie — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 16:44:40 -0400

And so it begins.

Let's see how long it will take before Professor Kmiec writes an op-ed explaining how legal conservatives should celebrate Hamilton's appointment to the Seventh Circuit.

Update: And, of course, CNN is calling Hamilton a "moderate."

Also, and to no one's surprise, Senator Lugar is praising Obama's appointment of Hamilton.