Senator Jeff Sessions, ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, is encouraging Republican colleagues to filibuster Barack Obama’s nominee to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals, David Hamilton.
Hamilton has major issues against him, including stating publicly his believe that the founders intended the judiciary to routinely amend the constitution through case law. More troubling, David Hamilton has ruled that praying to Allah does not violate the Establishment of Religion clause in the First Amendment, but praying in Jesus Christ’s name does.
According to Sesions’s letter,
Judge Hamilton’s most determidly activists decisions might be his series of rulings in A Woman’s Choice v. Newman, 904 F. Supp. 1434 (S.D. Ind. 1995). Through his rulings in this case, Judge Hamilton succeeded in blocking the enforcement of an Indiana informed consent law for 7 years. In reversing, the Seventh Circuit noted that Judge Hamilton had abused his judicial discretion.
Sessions concludes, “[t]his is not the type of service that should be rewarded with a promotion. In deed, this is one of those extraordinary circumstances where the President should be informed that his nominee is not qualified.”
You can read the full letter here (PDF).
Likewise, you can call your Senator at 202-224-3121 and ask him to oppose Judge David Hamilton’s nomination to the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals.
With the Pine Tree State duo no doubt opting out of the filibuster...
Hoosier Economist Friday, October 30th at 10:34AM EDT (link)It is difficult to see this succeeding in the absence of Democratic defections.
"determidly"? good grief
red_oakster Friday, October 30th at 10:58AM EDT (link)nt
Senator Richard Lugar (R-IN) supports Judge Hamilton
twobeers Friday, October 30th at 11:57AM EDT (link)So I doubt a filibuster will even get off the ground, let alone succeed.
On a personal level, Judge Hamilton is a good man. He comes from a very strong family. His uncle is Lee Hamilton, a former Rep. and co-chair of the 9/11 commission, and his father is a retired Methodist minister in Indianapolis. (And his sister-in-law is Dawn Johnsen, President Obama’s stalled nominee to head DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel).
But as a judge, Judge Hamilton is an activist, pro-plaintiff judge if ever there was one, and Republicans, including Senator Lugar, should raises issues about his appointment. In addition to being overturned on the abortion case, the Seventh Circuit also overturned his ruling that the Indiana legislature could not have a prayer at the opening of its legislative sessions.
In the interest of full disclosure, my wife served as co-counsel for the State Legislature on the prayer case, and Judge Hamilton called her and the Legislature’s other counsel “willfully obtuse” at one point during the proceedings. Judge Hamilton has also ruled against my clients in various cases in which he, in my humble opinion, misapplied binding precedent so that the plaintiffs in those cases could continue their lawsuits. So I may not be a little biased in my opinion of Judge Hamilton’s abilities on the bench.
http://www.brusbits.blogspot.com
If his rulings are truly as described above
avgamerican Saturday, October 31st at 3:08AM EDT (link)then he is hostile to the First Amendment and should not only be disqualified, but should be fired. Our founders wrote about the dangers of an unchecked court as it would lead to an unelected totalitarian government. These judges are one of the greatest threats to freedom. I have grown so concerned over this, that I would call for either limited terms for them, or granting presidential or congressional authority to over rule them as well as public censuring. This has to stop. These guys just make it up as they go along and because of their immunity from losing their job, they are not afraid of promoting radicalism from the bench.
This is important!
makemyday Friday, October 30th at 11:57AM EDT (link)The left has stacked the 9th Circuit with judges for life. These guys are literally at least as if not more dangerous to our liberties as elected officials are. The elected guys can be un-elected their next go around. Judges are there forever!
When all else fails…….. Shoot!
“Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.” –American author Mark Twain (1835-1910)
“We should never despair, our Situation before has been unpromising and has changed for the better, so I trust, it will again. If new difficulties arise, we must only put forth new Exertions and proportion our Efforts to the exigency of the times.” –George Washington, letter to Philip Schuyler, 1777
What Makes Hamilton Even Worse...
BillM Friday, October 30th at 3:56PM EDT (link)…is that the 7th Circuit that has reversed him so many times is lead by Richard Posner & Frank Easterbrook, who are universally considered to be two of the very greatest Federal judges never nominated to SCOTUS in the history of the country.
A further point to emphasize how extreme he is. That said, if Lugar loves him, he’s in.
STEVENS, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which SCALIA, J., joined.