Would McCain Nominate Strong Judges to the Supreme Court?
Let’s say you’re a judge, and an interesting case comes up (I got this from my brother, who’s a lawyer). A family is facing eviction from their apartment because one of their children has a pet goldfish - and pets aren’t allowed in the apartment.
Assuming you already believe that a goldfish is a “pet.” I would say that you have two options for ruling in this case:
1. “Hey, this is silly! It’s just a dumb goldfish, even if it is a pet. The family can stay.”
2. “The law says this is a pet, and pets aren’t allowed. Either the pet or the family has to go, even if it’s a dumb law.”
What would you answer? Pay attention carefully, because one of them is totally wrong.
I have smart readers, so you probably already know it’s #1, of course. #2 is the right one, because you’d be interpreting the law correctly (assuming a gold fish IS a pet, which was one of the stipulations). You might think the law is stupid, which it is, but your job isn’t to legislate from the bench.
If the kid has to get rid of his pet, it’s the dumb law’s fault, not the smart judge’s.
Why is this relevant?
John McCain just spoke at Wake Forest University about this kind of stuff:
For decades now, some federal judges have taken it upon themselves to pronounce and rule on matters that were never intended to be heard in courts or decided by judges. With a presumption that would have amazed the framers of our Constitution, and legal reasoning that would have mystified them, federal judges today issue rulings and opinions on policy questions that should be decided democratically.
Which raises an interesting question: McCain says he want judges who don’t legislate from the bench (cough Scalia cough). But, since he’s the closest thing to a conservative of the current “big three” candidates, can we count on McCain to appoint judges as well as Bush has, minus Harriet Myers?
This is one of the most important issues I personally face in determining my vote. I want Abortion gone, and with John Paul Stevens currently pushing 90, the next President could very well get to nominate a couple of Supreme Court justices in the next four-year term.
Thankfully, McCain’s record seems strong. His favorite Supreme Court justice is John Roberts. As far as I can tell, he’s been with the Republicans every time in his Senate career and was staunch against some of Clinton’s federal court appointments.
Some conservatives criticized McCain and the group of senators known as the Gang of 14 when they reached a compromise over the nomination of Dubya’s nominees back in 2005: the 7 Democrats in the group agreed not to filibuster in the future unless there were extraordinary circumstances, while Republicans wouldn’t use the “nuclear option” of overriding filibusters. As far as I can tell, the compromise basically got Alito to the “up or down” vote, where he was confirmed 58 to 42. Some people have a beef with all of the backroom negotiating instead of just debating it on the floor.
(Update: Oh. I didn’t understand the beef until I read this.)
Is McCain really the lesser of two evils (for conservatives) if he’s pro-life, will nominate strong Supreme Court justices, and is generally anti-tax and regulation? Or is he actually a strong Republican candidate?
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