Giuliani’s Liberal Judge Problem
Rudy may be talking the “strict constructionists” talk, but it seems he didn’t walk the walk while mayor of NYC.
A Politico review of the 75 judges Giuliani appointed to three of New York state’s lower courts found that Democrats outnumbered Republicans by more than 8 to 1. One of his appointments was an officer of the International Association of Lesbian and Gay Judges. Another ruled that the state law banning liquor sales on Sundays was unconstitutional because it was insufficiently secular.A third, an abortion-rights supporter, later made it to the federal bench in part because New York Sen. Charles E. Schumer, a liberal Democrat, said he liked her ideology.
Cumulatively, Giuilani’s record was enough to win applause from people like Kelli Conlin, the head of NARAL Pro-Choice New York, the state’s leading abortion-rights group. “They were decent, moderate people,” she said.
“I don’t think he was looking for someone who was particularly conservative,” added Barry Kamins, a Democrat who chaired the panel of the Bar Association of the City of New York, which reviewed Giuliani’s appointments. “He picked a variety from both sides of the spectrum. They were qualified, even-tempered, academically strong.”
This obviously makes me feel better (especially the part about picking judges from both sides), but I can imagine it’ll give a lot of conservatives heartburn. It’ll be interesting to see how he addresses this. I mean, just because somebody is from one side or the other doesn’t mean they won’t live up to Giuliani’s “test.”
Or, does Giuliani really have a test?
Though at least 50 of his 75 appointees were registered Democrats (only six were registered Republicans), Giuliani also won praise for, some say, appointing fewer judges with ties to local Democratic politics than his predecessors.“It was not people coming out of the clubhouses, which is what I’d seen earlier,” said Charles Moerdler, a member of the Commission on Judicial Nominations who had served other mayors in the same capacity. “I did not support Rudy (the first time he ran) because he was too conservative for me, so I was very alert to that, but I didn’t see any litmus tests on his part,” he said.
Still, this is something that’ll be hard to shake…8 to 1?
Good luck with that one Rudy.
13 Responses to “Giuliani’s Liberal Judge Problem”
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“qualified, even-tempered, academically strong”
- oef, yep, that’s dangerous.
Anyway – how do you think this will influence Giuliani’s chances?
Personally, I don’t think that it has to hurt ‘em
Uh oh. Once Rush, Laura and Sean get on the activist judges are ruining America canard again, we’ll end up with Newt Gingrich as the GOP nominee, lol!
8:1 is definitely pretty skewed, but I wonder what the party demographics are for all judges in NY? I wouldn’t doubt that the whole pool that he had to select from would lean heavily Democrat.
Yeah, not to defend the guy (or, from my perspective, give praise) but I’m sure he had very few options. Still conservatives stinging from Souter might think twice.
No they won’t actually. All polls indicate that they trust him when he says that he’ll choose conservative judges. I am not ‘endorsing’ Giuliani (how can I, I’m not even American), but I think he will do that.
At least during his first term.
Why? Because he’ll want to serve a second term.
He’ll focus on fiscally conservative and hawkish foreign policies.
I published a post at my own blog today on which I say something not in line with what most people think: I think that Romney will rise in the polls.
Giuliani might win it, his chances are good, but I also think that most people are underestimating Romney.
McCain is screwing things up big time.
In the paper, btw, I also read an interview with a Dutch female politician Femke Halsema. Her prediction for the Democratic nomination… Barack Obama.
Actually, this kind of revelation will sink Giuliani in the primary. Most conservative Republican voters know very little about Rudy’s views on social issues. They just know him as the 9/11 mayor who looked poised and who supposedly cleaned up New York City. But once they find out about his position on social issues, they will NOT look the other way and accept him. I applaud Giuliani for not kowtowing to right-wing evangelicals who dominate the party. But that will come back to bite him when the Christian noise machine picks up. A Giuliani nomination effectively means the end of the Reagan Revolution WITHIN the Republican Party. The GOP will not nominate a pro-choice, pro-gun control, pro civil unions, thrice married man for President. I guarantee it.
Actually, Elrod, in the polls they told the people about Giuliani’s past. And still.
I think Elrod is overestimating the influence of the religious right, and according to the poll that was cited in another post, probably also overestimating the degree to which the religious right will oppose Rudy. Of course I also think that the more the Democrats say that Rudy won’t get the nomination, the more likely it is that he will, so from my perspective I hope that Elrod and others keep repeating that refrain.
Ed Morrissey has a post up about a conversation that he had at CPAC with Bill Simon, who used to work with Guiliani and he’s supporting him in the primary bid. Quote:
I think I messed up the tags there, so hopefully this will fix it.
Or hopefully this will?
If Rudy was only given a list of three Democratic activist judges, who are the bane of the RR, he should have threatened to resign in protest, CS. Period. Only after being presented with a list of strict constructionists with no liberal bias, should he have withdrawn his resignation. Only honorable thing to do in those circumstances.
Otherwise our society ends up with sex ed in 1st grade, gay marriage, probation for pedophiles and a plethora of other threats to the sanctity of the family values that are the fundamental cornerstones of our society.