Dishonest Democrats block Bush's judicial nominees

With Clinton Gone, Obstructionist Liberals Now Push for 'Balance'

You need to know the underhanded and dishonest tactics being used to block President Bush's judicial nominees. The Bush Administration and Republicans should be the ones telling you, but, despite their continuing silence, you still need to know.

Among the many excuses of Senate Democrats and their leftist allies to block judicial confirmations is the supposed need for "balance" on the federal courts. The Constitution calls for no such thing in giving the President the power to appoint judges and Democrats, of course, only discovered the need for balance upon President Bush's election. And this argument doesn't even fly on the numbers, since Bill Clinton just finished appointing 374 federal judges.

Looking specifically at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which covers nine western states, reveals just what is going on here.

The Ninth Circuit is legendary or, should I say, notorious. This is the court that said landlords must rent to shacking-up couples despite their religious objections, that the Constitution contains rights to assisted suicide and to conduct government business in foreign languages, and that cities can discriminate against religious groups in opening their parks to community events. The U.S. Supreme Court reverses the Ninth Circuit three to four times as often as any other.

Those and many other activist decisions did not result from any "balance" on the Ninth Circuit. In fact, 18 of the 25 full-time judges on that court, or a whopping 72%, are Democrat appointees. Fourteen of them, or 56% of the total, are Clinton appointees. This is perhaps the most unbalanced appeals court in America and these crazy decisions prove it.

Forget All These Fake Excuses

If Senate Democrats really wanted balance on the Ninth Circuit, they would confirm President Bush's Ninth Circuit nominees. Instead, left-wing. California Sen. Barbara Boxer (D.) succeeded in preventing the nomination of Congressman Chris Cox (R.-Calif.) and is now threatening to block other nominees as well.

The obstruction campaign goes even further. A federal law actually requires what might be called balance. Hawaii's two senators, Democrats Daniel Akaka and Daniel Inouye, introduced the Fairness in Judiciary Appointments Act of 1997, because there had not been a Hawaiian in full-time service on the Ninth Circuit since 1984. The law requires that each state in a judicial circuit be represented by at least one judge on that court. Sen. Akaka stressed that this representation was necessary to "add to the credibility and legitimacy of the Federal appellate courts and the decisions they render."

Just for the record, courts are not and must not be treated as representative institutions. Representation creates first expectation and then entitlement of results by the groups supposedly being represented. That's the best way to destroy the rule of law.

But this law is on the books, and it was Hawaii's senators who put it there. Hawaii is today one of only two states-the other is North Carolina-not represented on their respective circuits and President Bush has nominated individuals from each of them.

President Bush has, for example, nominated Richard Clifton of Hawaii to fill one of the three vacancies on the Ninth Circuit. Clifton has practiced law in Hawaii for 25 years and has taught at the University of Hawaii School of Law. A specialist in business litigation, he is listed in The Best Lawyers in America as one of the 18 finest lawyers in that field in Hawaii.

Though there has not been a Hawaiian in full-time service on the Ninth Circuit in 17 years, and though their legislation requires there be one, Senators Akaka and Inouye now refuse to back Clifton's nomination. Sen. Inouye says he opposes the nominee because he was not "in the loop" enough in the nominee's selection.

Forget all these fake excuses. If these senators were concerned about balance on the Ninth Circuit, they would support clifton's nomination. If they were concerned that Hawaii be represented on the Ninth Circuit, they would support Clifton's nomination. The truth is that these Senators want someone else appointed. They want President Bush instead to re-submit Bill Clinton's far more liberal nominee, someone the Senate chose not to confirm.

So we arrive again at the same bottom line. The Democrat Senate is trying to change the Constitution's rules and highjack the appointment of judges. Don't be fooled by the gimmick du jour; that's just a cover up for a hostile takeover of the judicial selection process.

It's up to Senate Republicans and the Bush Administration, who say America needs judges who will simply follow the law, to expose these tactics and restore come constitutional balance before it's too late.

Mr. Jipping is vice president for legal policy at the Free Congress Foundation.

Copyright Human Events Publishing, Inc. Jul 23, 2001
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