It’s common knowledge that even long before Republicans won control of the Executive and Legislative branches of government, Democrats relied upon the Judicial branch to advance their agenda.
abortion rights - the secularization of society - affirmative action - limiting the gun rights of ordinary law abiding citizens - while defending the rights of convicted felons - even seeking their right to vote in Presidential elections - promoting a constitutional right to equal stuff in place of unrestricted equal opportunity. all of this exists mostly due to judicial fiat, not any legitimate legislative process. This is the liberal Democrat agenda.
Yet in the struggle for control over the third branch, overzealous Bush-bashers stepped out on a limb and attacked Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers, calling her a "Bush crony", a "private secretary" to Bush "completely unqualified" for the Supreme bench, setting up a litmus test based road block to her confirmation, before any hearings for advice and consent had even begun. Right-wing conservatives sawed that limb off this morning!
Harriet Miers withdrew her own nomination this morning. But she did so not because she didn’t have enough support from the left-wing of the minority party, not needed for her confirmation. She did so because it was becoming very clear that her nomination would not have the support of the right-wing of the majority party, without which, there would be no hope for confirmation.
The right-wing element of the Republican Party, those who are not just conservatives seeking a conservative constitutionalist on the bench, but rather those who seek a justice that will be an activist for their agenda, (just as Ginsberg and others have been for the liberal agenda for years), now want more. These folks are the people directly responsible for the Harriet Miers withdrawal.
However, they could not have done it alone, without the help of liberals who were publicly unwittingly doing the dirty work of right-wing conservatives who preferred to lay low in opposition to the President. God bless those unrelenting Bush-bashers!
Harriet Miers withdrew from the nomination because she was not conservative enough for the majority party she needed to win confirmation. This means that Bush’s next nominee will not be left of Ms. Miers, but well to the right.
Democrat Senator Harry Reid rushed to the microphone this morning to denounce the right-wing conservatives who forced the Miers withdrawal and demanded that Bush send up a more "centrist" nominee. Harry apparently missed the news that Harriet was as centrist as they are going to get…
It’s now clear that the mood of the Republicans has dramatically changed since the Ginsberg confirmation of 97-3. They are no longer willing to settle for a traditional conservative justice who would simply uphold the constitution as written. They now seek to join liberals in the process of actively pursuing their agenda in the courts.
Republicans are eager for a battle over the Supreme Court. They passed on what the President thought would be an easy confirmation, what Harry Reid thought might be too, and chose to take their agenda to the mat.
They believe that they do represent the mainstream interests of average americans and that the courts have been undermining those interests for some years. There is a mountain of evidence to prove they are right in this regard too…
Though I do not support the notion of judicial activism in the courts, no matter which ideology it promotes, I certainly understand why conservatives have given up on the idea that a plain old conservative court can work. 7 of 9 Supreme Court justices were Republicans, but only 4 of them turned out to be conservative in their rulings. Republicans no longer just seek Republicans on the court. Now they are demanding real conservatives, maybe even right-wing activists to offset the liberal judicial activism of the past.
So what’s next? If I may be so bold as to make a prediction… Bush’s next nominee will be right of Miers, maybe far right of Miers. The next nominee will be exactly the kind conservative that liberals have been promising to filibuster.
Bush tried to seat a new justice without a fight. But Republicans seem eager to have this national debate and equally eager to force a filibuster from the liberal side of the aisle. Sounds extreme, right? Not if you put it into proper context.
The left has applied an ideological litmus test to every Republican nominee for years. The days of tolerance from the conservative right are over. They too, now have a litmus test of their own and there will be no more 97-3 confirmations of aCLU lawyers to the Supreme bench. BRaVO!
I remain committed to the belief that the courts are no place for activism from either side of the political aisle. But it’s about time conservatives who really do represent the mainstream interests of every american, a right to Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness, (not abortion, socialism and free stuff), got into the game…
Liberals, who just couldn’t pass up an opportunity to Bush-bash at Harriet Miers expense, just committed political suicide. Harriet Miers was as centrist as they were ever going to get.