August 17, 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
KEITH APPELL (703)-683-5004
Washington, D.C. - Wendy E. Long, counsel to The Judicial Confirmation Network (www.judicialnetwork.com), today made the following statement regarding Barack Obama's comments on the Supreme Court at last night's Saddleback Forum:
"Obama's statements regarding the Supreme Court were ludicrous. They reveal that Obama is ignorant of facts and history, misunderstands the Constitution, and contradicts himself in his own alleged criteria for Supreme Court nominees.
'Americans who care about the future of the Supreme Court need to look very carefully at Obama's comments, because they show what poor judgment and criteria he would use in selecting Supreme Court Justices if he were elected President.
"It was clear last night that Obama's criteria for selecting Supreme Court Justices are fuzzy, lack intellectual coherence, and are subject to his own whims. He says Thomas 'isn't a strong enough jurist.' He says Roberts is 'a tougher question only because I find him to be a very compelling person, you know, in conversation individually.' Of Scalia, he says: 'he and I just disagree, you know?'
"All this speaks volumes about the kind of judges Obama would appoint, and the way he would fill several potential vacancies at the Supreme Court that could arise during the next President's term in office. Obama wants Justices who will do his bidding, who will implement the preferred policies of the liberal establishment - not Justices like Thomas, Scalia, Roberts and Alito, who understand that the role of a judge is not to legislate from the bench.
"Obama's answer about the three wisest people in his life, upon whom he would rely heavily in his administration, also sheds light on the way he would choose Supreme Court Justices. Obama said he would consult his grandmother, his wife, and Ted Kennedy. This is unlikely to yield the highest quality judicial nominees who understand the Constitution and the role of judges in our constitutional democracy."
"Obama started to say that Justice Thomas didn't have enough 'experience' for the Supreme Court. In mid-sentence, when Obama realized that he himself has far less experience for the presidency than Justice Thomas had for the Court in 1991, he shifted and said Justice Thomas 'was not a strong enough jurist or legal thinker at the time.'
"Obama is obviously ignorant of the fact - established through the Blackmun papers and independent journalists and scholars - that Justice Thomas has been a leading intellect on the Court from day one, including an influence on Justice Scalia, whom Obama credited with 'intellectual brilliance.'
"Has Obama actually read Justice Thomas's opinions? Can he point to any that reveal Thomas to be a weak jurist or legal thinker - as distinguished from Scalia, for example? This is all reminiscent of Harry Reid's comment several years ago that Justice Thomas was 'an embarrassment to the Court' and that his opinions 'were poorly written': Reid was exposed as the ignoramus then, and the Congressional Black Caucus asked him to stop using 'stereotypes and caricatures.'
"Apparently, Obama can do no better than to recycle discredited statements of Harry Reid when it comes to Justice Thomas. Like other liberal elites, Obama cannot stand it when a black man strays from the ideological plantation and refuses to implement liberal policies through the courts. But Obama will never point out any intellectual deficiencies in Justice Thomas's work, because he can't. Justice Thomas's opinions consistently reveal faithfulness to the Constitution, judicial modesty, and deference to the will of the people in our representative democracy. That is opposed to everything that Obama and the liberals are trying to do in grabbing power from the people and giving it to the courts."
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