Meese Active in Opposition to Sotomayor
By Jerry Markon
Ed Meese is at it again.
The Reagan-era attorney general, beloved by conservatives but long reviled by many liberals, is playing an important behind-the-scenes role in coordinating opposition to Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor.
From his perch at the conservative Heritage Foundation, the 77-year-old Edwin Meese III has been meeting with a network of right-of-center lawyers, buttonholing Republican senators and preaching the same message he's been delivering since the 1980s: judges should follow the Constitution and not push a liberal agenda from the bench.
"He's been very influential in his meetings on Capitol Hill and behind-the-scenes working with leading legal lights,'' said Gary Marx, executive director of the Judicial Confirmation Network, which has been echoing Meese's message with regular public blasts against Sotomayor.
"All of us feel like we stand on the shoulders of giants who have come before us, and clearly Meese is one of those giants and a conservative icon,'' Marx added.
