DeclinetoState
01-12-2006, 01:10 AM
:sheeple: (http://www.democraticunderground.com/articles/06/01/11_judiciary.html)
January 11, 2006
By Chris Edelson
After the first day of the Alito hearing, headlines proclaimed that Judge Alito "pledges to do what the law requires."
Huh? Is this supposed to contrast with those judges who swear to do the opposite of what the law requires? Seems like an extremely bland platitude, meaning absolutely nothing.
In fact, this is a carefully chosen political statement, a piece of rhetoric torn from the Republican playbook. Alito's statement is indeed meant to suggest that there are judges who do not follow the law. In the Bizarro world that is Republican dogma, such judges are known as "liberal activists."
Who are these devil may care, black robed commies? The rhetoric does not get into specifics. For years, the vague spectre of the liberal activist judge is invoked whenever Republicans talk about the courts, and especially when a nomination is pending.
...
The script works great. Everyone knows it by heart. It is so much a part of Americans politics that Americans know exactly what Alito means when he promises to "do what the law requires."
The reality is that Alito's pledge is based on a false dichotomy. Who are these liberal pinko judges out to wreck America? We never hear them mentioned by name. We almost never hear specific decisions mentioned as examples of activist judging.
:bsflag:
"We never hear them mentioned by name."
Shall we oblige this clown by naming names? How about Ginsburg, Souter, just about every judge on the 9th "Circus" Court of Appeals, and that dipweed judge in Vermont (Edward Cashman) who gave a f*****g child molestor just two months in the pokey?
January 11, 2006
By Chris Edelson
After the first day of the Alito hearing, headlines proclaimed that Judge Alito "pledges to do what the law requires."
Huh? Is this supposed to contrast with those judges who swear to do the opposite of what the law requires? Seems like an extremely bland platitude, meaning absolutely nothing.
In fact, this is a carefully chosen political statement, a piece of rhetoric torn from the Republican playbook. Alito's statement is indeed meant to suggest that there are judges who do not follow the law. In the Bizarro world that is Republican dogma, such judges are known as "liberal activists."
Who are these devil may care, black robed commies? The rhetoric does not get into specifics. For years, the vague spectre of the liberal activist judge is invoked whenever Republicans talk about the courts, and especially when a nomination is pending.
...
The script works great. Everyone knows it by heart. It is so much a part of Americans politics that Americans know exactly what Alito means when he promises to "do what the law requires."
The reality is that Alito's pledge is based on a false dichotomy. Who are these liberal pinko judges out to wreck America? We never hear them mentioned by name. We almost never hear specific decisions mentioned as examples of activist judging.
:bsflag:
"We never hear them mentioned by name."
Shall we oblige this clown by naming names? How about Ginsburg, Souter, just about every judge on the 9th "Circus" Court of Appeals, and that dipweed judge in Vermont (Edward Cashman) who gave a f*****g child molestor just two months in the pokey?