Kissing the Lipless
Pax Fellaship
The title of this little blog was supposed to be "Defending the Defenseless" but I just couldn't get "The Shins" song title out of my head. So the lesson here is, if you're not listening to "the Shins" then you should be. That way you would get my little joke and not just think I am some wierdo who writes "Kissing the Lipless" as the title of his blog.
I like John Roberts and I think he will make a very effective Supreme Court Justice.
There is probably nothing too shocking in the above statement except for the fact that many people I know consider me a commie pinko liberal. If I were a commie pinko liberal I should be honor bound to hate anyone who George W. appoints. I don't consider myself as such but what can you do.
Despite many of my politically liberal leanings I like this guy. The more I learn about him the more I like him. I may disagree with the way he votes in an election but he seems to be honest, ethical and a good lawyer. Now my last praise of Mr. Roberts might not seem like much of a praise at all but from my perspective, as a laywer, I think that in order to be a good judge you need to have been a good lawyer.
Roberts also doesn't seem to have much of an Agenda. Other than his stance against judicial activism I haven't seen any redflags raised. I think, and I hope, that the left is also feeling the sameway.
I will be honest, while I hoped to get someone like John Roberts as the President's nomination I wasn't overly optimistic. I assumed we would get a right wing activist. I was prepared for an extremely divisive fight in Congress. I expected to see polarizing TV ads from both sides for weeks and weeks. Except for the extremely misleading and distasteful NARAL ad we haven't seen anything of the sort.
I fervently hope the left is able to question John Roberts in a thoughtful manner without sinking to cheap political tricks just because he is a Bush appointee. I believe they would be expending what little political capital they have in the wrong place. An honest person, despite his/her political leanings, is always a good fit for the court. I respect this nomination and I think the President is making good on his word to not appoint activist judges. Most Presidents make a similar promise, but I imagine that when it comes to it, it is a difficult to appoint an even handed candidate when you have the opportunity to appoint someone who could potentially make your political vision for the country's legal system come true. Not to sound to snide of flippant but in my book the President gets a big gold star. Not that he cares or that anyone else cares but George W. Bush doesn't have too many gold stars in my book, so this is a pretty momentous occassion for me.
So today I am happy; happy with the nomination, happy with the seeming lack of fight from the left and happy with the President.
The only thing that would make me unhappy is if my beloved Alma Mater all of the sudden invited Ann Coulter to speak at its American Studies Institute distinguished lectureship series.
Wait, what's that you say?
The title of this little blog was supposed to be "Defending the Defenseless" but I just couldn't get "The Shins" song title out of my head. So the lesson here is, if you're not listening to "the Shins" then you should be. That way you would get my little joke and not just think I am some wierdo who writes "Kissing the Lipless" as the title of his blog.
I like John Roberts and I think he will make a very effective Supreme Court Justice.
There is probably nothing too shocking in the above statement except for the fact that many people I know consider me a commie pinko liberal. If I were a commie pinko liberal I should be honor bound to hate anyone who George W. appoints. I don't consider myself as such but what can you do.
Despite many of my politically liberal leanings I like this guy. The more I learn about him the more I like him. I may disagree with the way he votes in an election but he seems to be honest, ethical and a good lawyer. Now my last praise of Mr. Roberts might not seem like much of a praise at all but from my perspective, as a laywer, I think that in order to be a good judge you need to have been a good lawyer.
Roberts also doesn't seem to have much of an Agenda. Other than his stance against judicial activism I haven't seen any redflags raised. I think, and I hope, that the left is also feeling the sameway.
I will be honest, while I hoped to get someone like John Roberts as the President's nomination I wasn't overly optimistic. I assumed we would get a right wing activist. I was prepared for an extremely divisive fight in Congress. I expected to see polarizing TV ads from both sides for weeks and weeks. Except for the extremely misleading and distasteful NARAL ad we haven't seen anything of the sort.
I fervently hope the left is able to question John Roberts in a thoughtful manner without sinking to cheap political tricks just because he is a Bush appointee. I believe they would be expending what little political capital they have in the wrong place. An honest person, despite his/her political leanings, is always a good fit for the court. I respect this nomination and I think the President is making good on his word to not appoint activist judges. Most Presidents make a similar promise, but I imagine that when it comes to it, it is a difficult to appoint an even handed candidate when you have the opportunity to appoint someone who could potentially make your political vision for the country's legal system come true. Not to sound to snide of flippant but in my book the President gets a big gold star. Not that he cares or that anyone else cares but George W. Bush doesn't have too many gold stars in my book, so this is a pretty momentous occassion for me.
So today I am happy; happy with the nomination, happy with the seeming lack of fight from the left and happy with the President.
The only thing that would make me unhappy is if my beloved Alma Mater all of the sudden invited Ann Coulter to speak at its American Studies Institute distinguished lectureship series.
Wait, what's that you say?
posted by Kile and Em at 1:58 PM
2 Comments:
I like Roberts, too, but of course, perhaps that's just because I'm a lawyer as well. I wholeheartedly agree that good judges must be good lawyers. At the risk of sounding elitist, maintaining and promoting the rule of law is hard work, intellectually demanding and not prone to abide much guff from the likes of political extremists. From the trenches of civil litigation and petty criminal defense, to the great halls of the Supreme Court, lawyers fill a role essentially necessary to the well being of our democracy and peaceful conflict resolution, governed always by the godly tool of peacemaking, the rule of law. Roberts gets it. He understands why the law must be protected itself by the Court. Thus, I concur, with separate written opinion, that the President has made a good pick.
But Kile is uncommonly fond of Woodie Guthrie, and I'm not sure what to make of it.
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