Salon/CIR: Bush judges grease GOP palms

From Salon/Center for Investigative Reporting via Huffpo:

Thank you so much for considering me for that nice life-long judicial appointment, Mr. President... the check is in the mail.

Oct. 31, 2006 | At least two dozen federal judges appointed by President Bush since 2001 made political contributions to key Republicans or to the president himself while under consideration for their judgeships, government records show. A four-month investigation of Bush-appointed judges by the Center for Investigative Reporting reveals that six appellate court judges and 18 district court judges contributed a total of more than $44,000 to politicians who were influential in their appointments. Some gave money directly to Bush after he officially nominated them. Other judges contributed to Republican campaign committees while they were under consideration for a judgeship.

You know... I'm a small-town journalist and I just finished writing up a tribute to a retiring mayor, which involved interviewing a lot of his friends... one of them a local lawyer.  He told me about how he had to keep his distance from the mayor, despite liking him very much: "A mayor is somewhat like a judge, and a judge should be beyond reproach."

Why?  Because that way the public can maintain some trust of the court system to be just and fair.

The Republican Party of 2006 is ripping these ethical standards and traditions, that are the true cement of a community under law and a democracy, to shreds.  It doesn't matter what rock you turn over -- bi-partisanship, honesty in advertising, inviolacy of taxpayer funds for partisan use, etc. etc. etc. -- elephant-shaped bugs are going to come sliming out.

Under the Bush regime, a judgeship is not a sacred trust.  It's just another sinecure for sale.  And are we going to pretend these judges aren't owned by those who paid for them?

The article points out that campaign contributions by judges aren't illegal.  But it's still wrong.  In recognition of this, the American Bar Association will be setting up new ethical standards which forbid it, in February.

Just so you know who they're talking about, at least in part:

Republicans who received money from judges en route to the bench include Sens. Arlen Specter and Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, Sens. George Voinovich and Mike DeWine of Ohio, and Gov. George Pataki of New York.

The article goes on to name specific judges and instances.  And it does admit that there's something of an old DC tradition here, with Democrats having been somewhat guilty of same.  But the GOP seems to be showing its usual tendency to jump two feet first and wallow happily in ethical cesspits into which others might only stick their toes.

•  Absolutely recommending!

  by Boppy on Tue Oct 31, 2006 at 05:43:03 AM PDT

•  Part of the GOP culture

  I was just watching a speech from the judge in the Dover, PA intelligent design case the other day.  He mentioned a column by Phyllis Schafley where she basically called him out as a traitor because he ruled against ID in spite of being appointed by Bush.

  Party over principle.

  by MLDB on Tue Oct 31, 2006 at 05:46:01 AM PDT

  •  Head scratching, here

    So lemme see if I got this straight: she's criticizing this guy because he WASN'T an activist judge? Because he DIDN'T make the law, he just applied it?

    by elmo on Tue Oct 31, 2006 at 07:02:26 AM PDT

•  Important diary!

  by Karyn on Tue Oct 31, 2006 at 05:46:21 AM PDT

•  Recommending

  Everything can be bought - except integrity.  

  Why does this not surprise me?

  by BluejayRN on Tue Oct 31, 2006 at 05:57:09 AM PDT

•  I hope I don't seem

  old-fashioned and naive.

  But if integrity is out of fashion, then fashion is fucked.

  by Karen Wehrstein on Tue Oct 31, 2006 at 06:10:04 AM PDT

  •  I'm hoping fashion sense as well

    as integrity will return.  Just right after the Great Settling Down To Work that occurs after the Second Term Panic of 2006

    by emmasnacker on Tue Oct 31, 2006 at 08:31:57 AM PDT

•  They're all for activist judges

  ...as long as they're their activist judges.

  I saw this come through my email transom this morning and I couldn't understand why these people, even without a shred of integrity in their body, didn't worry about keeping up appearances.  But I suppose that's S.O.P. now -no need to worry about such things under Bush.

  by Naranjadia on Tue Oct 31, 2006 at 07:17:23 AM PDT

•  Recommended

  IF we ever get our country back, we need to go after these unethical judges and rip them out of power!
  Some organizations collected plenty of dirt on John Roberts while he was going through confirmation. We need to keep digging and keep collecting for future opportunities.

  Thanks for the post!

  by patginsd on Tue Oct 31, 2006 at 07:46:36 AM PDT

•  Great diary.

  The cesspool is truly bottomless.  

  by Juneappal on Tue Oct 31, 2006 at 09:55:13 PM PDT

•  Nice seeing this diary rescued today.

  Good work!  Sorry to be too late to recommend, but this needs wide exposure.  The endless destructive behavior of this administration cannot be fathomed.  Every time someone finds a thread the whole cloth begins to unravel.  When will it all end?

  by possum on Wed Nov 01, 2006 at 05:56:36 AM PDT