Via Jeralyn at
TalkLeft, this excellent
interview in the NYT with Judge Jed S. Rakoff of Federal District Court in Manhattan. Judge Rakoff has bravely challenged the constitutionality of the death penalty. If only there were more like him.
Compare and contrast with Bush's judicial nominees; for instance
Janice Rogers Brown: "During her time on the bench, California Supreme Court Justice Janice Rogers Brown has taken positions hostile to reproductive rights, affirmative action, claims of discrimination based on race, age, gender, and disability, and worker and consumer protections. Her record raises serious questions about her commitment to equal justice and her fitness for an appointment to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, the second most powerful and prestigious court in the country. "
Or William Gerry Myers III:
After Bush left the White House, Myers worked as a lawyer and lobbyist for the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association and executive director of the Public Lands Council, a non-profit group that represents the NCBA as well as the American Sheep Industry Association, the American Farm Bureau Federation and the Association of National Grasslands, before joining the firm of Holland & Hart as of counsel in 1997.
Or William H. Pryor:
President Bush sidestepped the confirmation process and recess appointed William Pryor to the Eleventh Circuit on February 20, 2004. Pryor's record reveals him to be an ultra-conservative legal activist whose record disqualifies him from a lifetime appointment to the federal judiciary. As Alabama Attorney General, Pryor has demonstrated a commitment to rolling back the clock on federal protections against discrimination based on race, gender, age, and disability. He has pushed his extremist agenda not only through litigation in which Alabama was a party, but also by electing to file amicus briefs in cases in which Alabama was not involved, and through numerous public speeches that make clear that the ideological positions he has taken in these cases are his own.
And these are only three of twenty very similar nominees that Bush has renominated to the courts. Most are strict constructionists: many are hostile to reproductive rights, are fundamentalist christians, or have been/are lobbyists or counsel for major corporations or trade associations. Gods, I'm glad I'm not in America.
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