Redstate

By Adam C Posted in 2008 — Comments (10) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

Re-printed with permission from Mr. Miranda, all emphasis is mine. Note that Mr. Miranda has been one of the most active insiders involved with judicial nomination fights. He worked with Sen. Frist and the Heritage Foundation during the past 4 years and has an inside view of what Sen. McCain has done with respect to judges:

Dear Friends,

As you may know, prior to Super Tuesday, I endorsed John McCain. I wanted you to know why. Today at CPAC, I invite you all to put aside past legislative battles as I did, and see the Senator as I did: a patriot tested by battle, personal loss, sacrifice, and public service.

As a staffer in the Senate, I orchestrated the efforts and debates over the best known judicial nominees of the Bush administration, including the unprecedented seven week effort for Miguel Estrada, who I made a household name, Priscilla Owen, Janice Rogers Brown, and Bill Pryor, whose nomination helped to expose the anti-Catholic phobia of Senate Democrats. When I organized the National Coalition to End Judicial Filibusters, I forced the Senate Republican leadership to address the "constitutional option" in anticipation of a Supreme Court nomination. As chairman of the Third Branch Conference, I led the conservative and values voter movements on the nonminations of John Roberts, Harriet Miers, and Sam Alito.

At the 2006 CPAC, I was awarded the Ronald Reagan Award for my efforts, but especially in leading the opposition to Harriet Miers, a defining moment in the relationship between conservatives and the President, who I love. As David Keene put it, "Sam Alito would not be on the Supreme Court were it not for [me]." Perhaps.

Having served in Iraq for a year as a civilian in the State Department, there is is no nominee who better assures me of the future of our country and the future for my son than John McCain. Being shelled three times a day at the Embassy compound, not unlike living near the Capitol, heightens your sense of the danger we face. I also know first hand that our troops in the field are inspired by Senator McCain voice as with no other leader.

Moreover, McCain's personal story is one of tragedy overcome and unrelenting sacrifice. While my heart is with the underdog campaign of Mike Huckabee, my mind is firmly convinced that John McCain represents both the political change this country longs for and the stability of vision that our safety and the world's peace requires.

On judges, the choice between John McCain and Mitt Romney is easy. I know that many of you would point to Senator McCain's role in the Gang of 14. That role is misunderstood.

First this: In an executive role, Mitt Romney's record in Massachusetts on judicial nominations is abysmal. His conduct was either an abdication of duty or a complete disregard of the importance of a governor's role in that state's nominations process. You and I know the importance of the judge issue. As Senator Jeff Sessions once told me, "Nobody polls on it, but it's what everyone wants to talk about back home." We need to make sure that a Republican president understands this issue without wavering and without any populist tendencies. Mitt Romney does not give us that comfort.

Certainly, John McCain is not a culture warrior and yet he has been pro-life in his voting record and firm in his understanding that the issue of abortion should be returned to the States. Mitt Romney's record is not similarly comforting. Mr. Romney defends his former pro-abortion choice position (and presumably his wife's donation to Planned Parenthood) by reminding us that President Reagan and George H. W. Bush were also converts to the pro-life cause. I reject the comparison. Like many Americans between 1973 and 1980, Reagan and Bush came late to understanding what Roe vs..Wade had wrought. Unlike Reagan and Bush (or McCain), it took more than thirty years of public debate throughout his adult life for Mitt Romney to reach the right conclusion about federal abortion rights. If even President George W. Bush could falter in understanding his mandate on judges, how could we trust Mitt Romney's judgment.

Second, Senator McCain would not need on-the-job training on the issue of federal judicial nomination, and he is a meritocrat. He is not likely to nominate a lightweight to the judiciary. The truth is that the Gang of 14 was a coordinated response to Bill Frist's and Mitch McConnell's fear of using the "constitutional option" and desire to hold it in reserve if Democrats escalated the use of filibusters to Supreme Court nominees. In effect then, short of ending judicial filibusters by returning the Senate to its traditions and the Constitution, the Gang of 14 compromise paved the way for the confirmation of two excellent justices. This was John McCain's drafted role.

The Gang of 14 was not my only experience with John McCain playing the role of good soldier in the judicial nominations war. Unlike a few Republican senators I know, McCain did not absent himself from four extraordinary Senate floor events on judicial nominations in 2003 that I organized. I was right next to him when he walked into the beginning of the 40 hour Grand Debate. Senator McCain was a good soldier on judges in 2003 as he was again in forming the Gang of 14 for the Senate leadership in 2005.

In recent days, beginning the night before the Florida primary, McCain opponents fanned opposition with a 6-month-old-delayed recall and reported a comment made by Senator McCain mischaracterizing Judge Alito. The senator denies the comment. On the contary, Senator McCain has forcefully and publicly defended his votes in support of both John Roberts and Sam Alito, well to my satisfaction. As he put it, he wishes he could clone them.

This conservative endorses John McCain. A president's two greatest roles are as commander-in-chief and as chief steward of the federal courts. John McCain is ready for both roles as no other candidate is, Democrat or Republican.

Moreover, a McCain presidency would revitalize the conservative movement, and the values voters movement, too often coopted by this White House into silence ( as we saw with Harriet Miers and so many other moments), without losing the hope of restoring the Constitution and the Supreme Court to the American people. Our movements will benefit by not being coopted by access by a White House that has a hold over us. It is good for us and the country if we have an arm's lenght relationship with the President, but count on him over the thwo things that matter most: defense and the lasting legacay of the federal courts.

Finally, to resort to my roots: we need a president with cojones.

Best regards,

Manuel Miranda