By Andrew P. Napolitano
The president's men trash the Constitution to pursue antagonists
Independent voices from the TWT Communities
Republican Rep. Michele Bachmann is harkening back to a past female world leader with firm resolve - former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher - as she tries to convince American veterans that she would make a strong commander in chief.
During the recent debt crisis, President Obama talked about the need for bipartisan compromise and, as in the past, urged civility. Giving ground and engaging in polite discourse, of course, can be noble aims. But, like most one-eyed-jack politicians, Mr. Obama has rarely embraced the admirable qualities he advocates - a fact increasingly evident to a skeptical public.
University of California at Berkeley law professor Goodwin Liu was nominated Tuesday to the California Supreme Court, a scant two months after his candidacy for a federal judgeship was derailed by Republican objections to his left-leaning legal philosophy.
The House voted Wednesday to ban teaching medical centers from using federal money to train doctors on how to perform abortions, the latest in a series of pro-life measures pushed by the Republican majority.
Goodwin Liu, a polarizing Obama administration judicial candidate, has asked the president to withdraw his nomination from consideration for an appeals court judgeship after his bid was blocked last week in the Senate by a Republican filibuster.
Senate Republicans on Thursday blocked the nomination of Goodwin Liu for an appeals court judgeship, accusing him of being a liberal activist and handing President Obama his first judicial defeat of the year.
The Obama administration's most contentious judicial nomination yet faces a key test vote in the Senate on Thursday, with Republicans poised to block the nomination of Goodwin Liu on grounds he is a liberal activist who would play fast and loose with the Constitution from the bench.
The Senate Judiciary Committee approved a controversial appeals court nomination Thursday, setting up the first big battle in this Congress over an Obama judicial nomination.
After a lengthy blockade this year, Senate Republicans have agreed to let at least 19 of President Obama's judicial nominees win confirmation in the waning days of the congressional session, in exchange for a commitment by Democrats not to seek votes on four other, more controversial picks, according to officials familiar with the deal.
As the lame-duck session stumbles to an undistinguished conclusion, senators may be called on to vote on the nominations of some of the president's more controversial judicial nominees. For example, Edward Chen, who wants to be a federal judge in California, said the singing of "America the Beautiful" at a funeral was an appeal to patriotism that sparked "feelings of ambivalence and cynicism" in him.
Suddenly, on the subject of judicial nominations, Democrats are crying so many crocodile tears that they sound like an Elton John song. In comparison to Democrats' abuse of George W. Bush's judicial nominees, Republican senators have barely touched President Obama's selections.
In a brief statement, Mr. Liu said he was "deeply honored by Gov. Brown's nomination and look forward to the opportunity to serve the people of California on our state's highest court."
Associated Press Liberal California law professor Goodwin Liu, nominated Tuesday to the state Supreme Court by Gov. Jerry Brown, said he looked forward "to the opportunity to serve the people of California on our state's highest court."
