April 7, 2010

Here's the thing about hypocrisy on justices

The 2010 elections are the most important focus for conservatives this year. Anything else is a diversion from the main focus.  Yet it is incumbent on the Senate Republicans to keep an eye out for more Democrat Trojan horses.  They are sure to come along all the time.  The latest is the newest 9th Circuit Court judicial nominee.

Politico has the story;

Law professor Goodwin Liu is young and progressive, and could be on the fast track to the Supreme Court — but his nomination to a lower court has already hit a troubled patch after he neglected to send some of his most controversial statements to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

On Tuesday, Liu sent an additional 117 items to the committee — including some of his most incendiary statements on issues such as affirmative action, school busing and constitutional welfare rights. Liu’s hearing has already been postponed once, and his failure to disclose controversial writings has Republicans saying Liu’s nomination is in “jeopardy.”

The missing material “creates the impression that he knowingly attempted to hide his most controversial work from the committee,” Judiciary Republicans wrote to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy on Tuesday.
Progressive justices are a big part of the problem and this nomination cannot go unchallenged, especially since he hasn't been entirely forthcoming.  That's an indicator of something to hide. The bar has always been set higher for conservative nominees.  They have to be squeaky clean and unimpeachable to get even a floor vote in the Senate for confirmation.  Now that's not a bad thing , but if it's only to be applied to conservative-leaning justices then the deck will forever be stacked against Republican nominees.

When the GOP was trying to get Bush nominees through to floor votes many never got their day in legislative 'court' because of Democrat tactics, which the GOP, rightly decried.  So what to do now? Well, here's the thing about hypocrisy on justices - there is a cultural war being waged against America's core values.  And as the old saying goes, all is fair in love and war.  The GOP should use the Democrat tactics against Liu and hypocrisy be damned.

The press will no doubt pound the GOP for it, but if they don't do it, there is something else the mainstream media will find to pound the GOP with.  Why not do it for something that they can have an impact on? It also provideds the GOP with the opportunity to reply with an I told you so moment.  They can point out they are simply using the Democrat tactics against the Democrats since they had used it a number of times against Bush nominees.  The GOP can argue that they are simply taking the opportunity to point out a problem that no one felt was worth addressing when the GOP was in control of the nominees.  The least they can get out of it perhaps would be some sort of legislative change that would require these type of votes to be done in a timely and consistent manner..  Lastly, this issue won't undo scores of GOP gains in the House or gains in the Senate expected this fall.  If the Democrats try to assail the GOP on hampering Democracy, the GOP response need only be two words "health care". So where's the downside?  There isn't one.  Republicans: Fight this battle.

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