Surprise, Surprise: McCain And Bush Are The Bobbsey Twins Of Judicial Philosophy

Every nonpartisan examination of the 2000 election results have shown that George W. Bush was not elected to the presidency of the United States. For the last 8 years we have lived under an illegitimate government that appointed by an ideological right wing Supreme Court. Yesterday Bush-- struggling to keep his approval rating in double digits through January-- embraced McCain's promise to appoint more right wing extremists to the bench as he accused Democrats of contributing to a broken confirmation process for federal judges.

In front of a crowd of extreme and overwhelmingly deranged right-wing Federalist Society lawyers, Bush bragged about his atrocious appointments in Cincinnati, reminding them (and us) that the garbage he appointed to the bench make up more than a third of the federal judiciary.

"I appreciate that many people listening today and here in this room have worked hard to recruit more Americans to this cause. This work is in all our interests, because the truth of the matter is, the belief in judicial restraint is shared by the vast majority of American citizens."

Bush's remarks, delivered on the opening day of the new Supreme Court session, appeared to be aimed in part at highlighting the issue of judicial appointments during the final weeks of the hard-fought presidential campaign between McCain (Ariz.), the Republican nominee, and Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.), his Democratic opponent.

It's these dangerous extremists in the Federalist Society who have contributed much of the $8,248,032 McCain has gotten this year from lawyers and Bush has given them a virtual veto power of his judicial nominations, just as McCain would do. They swoon at the thought of more like John Roberts and Sammy Alito. They claim Bush hasn't done much because not enough judges died or retired and that it will take a McCain-- or Palin-- to really transform the courts into what they want-- a full blown nazi pseudo judiciary.

Nan Aron, president of the Alliance for Justice, a liberal advocacy group, said that 10 of the nation's 13 federal appellate courts are now "dominated by conservatives" and that Roberts and Alito are part of a "conservative juggernaut."

"This administration has cemented a transformation of our federal judiciary begun by Ronald Reagan, which has resulted in less freedom, less privacy and fewer constitutional protections," Aron said.

...Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) said in a statement that the "balance on our nation's federal courts is precarious," with 60 percent of the federal bench appointed by Republican presidents. "We cannot afford more of the same if Americans' rights and liberties are to be preserved," Leahy said.