May 1, 200917 yr Replacing one liberal judge with another liberal judge won't affect the court much. I bet the GOP wishes Bush II would've gotten the chance to atone for the mistakes they believe Bush I made in Souter's appointment.
May 1, 200917 yr Author Replacing one liberal judge with another liberal judge won't affect the court much. I bet the GOP wishes Bush II would've gotten the chance to atone for the mistakes they believe Bush I made in Souter's appointment. I hear that refrain all the time, but its not true. New justices affect energy, assignment of cases, deliberations, clerkships, judicial harmony, and many other things that we don't see aside from mere opinion record.
May 1, 200917 yr I hear that refrain all the time, but its not true. New justices affect energy, assignment of cases, deliberations, clerkships, judicial harmony, and many other things that we don't see aside from mere opinion record.Once I wrote it I kind of wish I hadn't phrased it that way. Point taken, and let me remove my comment from record. Though I still stand by my second statement. :lol: :lol: How about, the way the court votes won't be affected that much!
May 1, 200917 yr Author Once I wrote it I kind of wish I hadn't phrased it that way. Point taken, and let me remove my comment from record. Though I still stand by my second statement. :lol: :lol: How about, the way the court votes won't be affected that much! Possibly. New justices have a way of mobilizing swingers like Anthony Kennedy, who seek to court their allegience by siding with them.
May 1, 200917 yr Possibly. New justices have a way of mobilizing swingers like Anthony Kennedy, who seek to court their allegience by siding with them.:isurrender: I will say that what you are talking about seems quite petty to me. Especially for a SC Justice.
May 1, 200917 yr Possibly. New justices have a way of mobilizing swingers like Anthony Kennedy, who seek to court their allegience by siding with them. Conversely new justices with a much more polarized approach can send swing justices to the other side of the vote. Personalities, fortunately or unfortunately, have a big effect on votes. Souter from what I understand is a very soft spoken judge. Put a hard liberal judge in his spot with a personality of Scalia's, and you may see Kennedy move more to the right. Until we know who is appointed, it's way too early to state what effect the new justice will have on the existing justices and their votes in my opinion.
May 1, 200917 yr Author Conversely new justices with a much more polarized approach can send swing justices to the other side of the vote. Personalities, fortunately or unfortunately, have a big effect on votes. Souter from what I understand is a very soft spoken judge. Put a hard liberal judge in his spot with a personality of Scalia's, and you may see Kennedy move more to the right. Until we know who is appointed, it's way too early to state what effect the new justice will have on the existing justices and their votes in my opinion. I agree. Souter apparently is well-liked, both for his work ethic (he works 7 days a week in-term), and also because he is apparently somewhat quirky, and is good friends with both Ginsburg and Scalia.
May 1, 200917 yr I hope Obama appoints a fair Justice who doesn't allow his personal politics to sway his decisions and does not try to legislate from the bench. I also hope to own a unicorn. The latter is more likely to come true.
May 1, 200917 yr I would like to see the Republicans put forth an argument that this is an opportunity for the President to reach accros the aisle and appoint a moderate to the Supreme Court. I extremely doubt that Obama would actually appoint a moderate. In fact I fully expect him to nominate someone even more liberal than Ginsberg (extreme lefty) to replace Souter ( a lefty but not as extreme as Ginsberg). After Obama actually does appoint an extreme lefty for the position I would throw it back in his face that all his talk about reaching across the aisle is simply window dressing. That he is exactly what his opponents said he was during the campaign -- an extreme lefty who plans on governing as an extreme lefty. P.S. If Obama actually does appoint a moderate then I would be more than happy to admit I was wrong.
May 1, 200917 yr I would like to see the Republicans put forth an argument that this is an opportunity for the President to reach accros the aisle and appoint a moderate to the Supreme Court. I extremely doubt that Obama would actually appoint a moderate. In fact I fully expect him to nominate someone even more liberal than Ginsberg (extreme lefty) to replace Souter ( a lefty but not as extreme as Ginsberg). After Obama actually does appoint an extreme lefty for the position I would throw it back in his face that all his talk about reaching across the aisle is simply window dressing. That he is exactly what his opponents said he was during the campaign -- an extreme lefty who plans on governing as an extreme lefty. P.S. If Obama actually does appoint a moderate then I would be more than happy to admit I was wrong. Even if Obama wants to appoint a moderate, I don't think Pelosi and Reid will permit him to do so. I don't think he wanted to even consider prosecuting the folks in the Bush administration that okayed waterboarding. Heck, he stated such. After he did so, Pelosi and some of the more liberal members of Congress went ballistic. Shortly thereafter Obama changed his position and said he'd let the AG decide and recommended that there be a special investigation on whether the former administration folks should be prosecuted. Folks, Pelosi, Reid et al have a lot of juice to affect what Obama hopes to get accomplished as President. He doesn't listen to them on things like who he appoints to the Supreme Court and he's dead meat. Obama is a smart man and knows the political realities he's faced with.
May 1, 200917 yr Author I would like to see the Republicans put forth an argument that this is an opportunity for the President to reach accros the aisle and appoint a moderate to the Supreme Court. I extremely doubt that Obama would actually appoint a moderate. In fact I fully expect him to nominate someone even more liberal than Ginsberg (extreme lefty) to replace Souter ( a lefty but not as extreme as Ginsberg). After Obama actually does appoint an extreme lefty for the position I would throw it back in his face that all his talk about reaching across the aisle is simply window dressing. That he is exactly what his opponents said he was during the campaign -- an extreme lefty who plans on governing as an extreme lefty. P.S. If Obama actually does appoint a moderate then I would be more than happy to admit I was wrong. Souter is probably a moderate. He votes with the more liberal block more often than not, but there are several issues he has written conservative opinions on, including the death penalty. He is liberal on business issues. Stevens is the most liberal justice.
May 1, 200917 yr I consider Ginsberg and Stevens to be very, very liberal. Souter and Breyer to be liberal. Kennedy is the lone moderate. Kennedy seems to have been a moderate-conservative who has been moving closer to a moderate-liberal the more time he spends on the court. Alito and Roberts are solid conservatives with Roberts being pro-business. Both Scalia and Thomas are very very conservative with Thomas' brand of conservatism being originalist.
May 1, 200917 yr I would like to see the Republicans put forth an argument that this is an opportunity for the President to reach accros the aisle and appoint a moderate to the Supreme Court. I extremely doubt that Obama would actually appoint a moderate. In fact I fully expect him to nominate someone even more liberal than Ginsberg (extreme lefty) to replace Souter ( a lefty but not as extreme as Ginsberg). After Obama actually does appoint an extreme lefty for the position I would throw it back in his face that all his talk about reaching across the aisle is simply window dressing. That he is exactly what his opponents said he was during the campaign -- an extreme lefty who plans on governing as an extreme lefty. P.S. If Obama actually does appoint a moderate then I would be more than happy to admit I was wrong. Shooter, don't you find it ironic that a conservative like yourself is talking about "reaching across the aisle?" Why would he? Did Bush? Did Bush the First? Whether it's the left or right side of the aisle I always find it humorous that whoever is not in power believes the other side should reach across to them and then they turn it around when they are in power. It's the way it's always been, why would it stop now. :ohbrother:
May 1, 200917 yr Shooter, don't you find it ironic that a conservative like yourself is talking about "reaching across the aisle?" Why would he? Did Bush? Did Bush the First? Whether it's the left or right side of the aisle I always find it humorous that whoever is not in power believes the other side should reach across to them and then they turn it around when they are in power. It's the way it's always been, why would it stop now. :ohbrother: Bush 41 certainly did "reach across the aisle" by appointing Souter. I won't argue with you about the rest. Obama won and he can appoint whatever left leaning, democracy destroying liberal he wants to. I was only answering your question about George Herbert Walker Bush. He definately appointed a more left leaning moderate.
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