July 26, 2005

An ominous turn for law and politics

Apparently there are those in Congress who have serious concerns about John Roberts' involvement with the Federalist Society. This is ridiculous. No one had a problem with Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's involvement with the American Civil Liberties Union, and properly so. While the ACLU is pretty much a left-leaning organization, what would one expect from a Supreme Court Justice nominated by a Democrat? So what if the Federalists are a right-leaning organization -- Judge Roberts has been nominated by a Republican.

The Federalist Society is not exactly a dangerous, subversive organization dedicated to tearing down civil liberties and transferring power to Halliburton. I mean, they're not all Robert Bork over there. There is a good ideological mix there of political conservatives, social conservatives, economic libertarians, and the American equivalent of the Tory Party. The big thinkers at the Federalist Society (much like the big thinkers at the ACLU) actually agree on very little, if you take the time to study their writings and learn about them with an open mind. And keeping and open mind about your adversaries does not mean that you are dooming yourself to becoming like them.

So hey, Democrats, guess what? You lost last year. Maybe it was a really close loss, maybe it wasn't (depending on what map you read) but Bush won and that means Bush gets to pick the next Supreme Court Justice. Deal. You want things to be different? Get out there and win for a change.

So, Senator Schumer and other members of the Judiciary Committee, grow the f*** up already. Make sure the guy isn't a Nazi and move on.

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