Okay, so the Right is dead set on getting judges in to combat this evil of 'liberal Federal activist judges'. Of course, that leads to a question in my mind.
WHOSE judges are they?
So I started looking. Not at the USSC, we all know where they came from, or we can go look if we're senile like me.
Instead, I started to hit the Circuit Courts of Appeals. And after a partial search, one thing is plain:
Republicans have been appointing judges for 18 of the last 26 years, and it shows.
Follow below for proof.
Start with, say, the
The 8th Circuit Court of Appeals. A fairly good start, to me. It's smack dab in the middle of the country.
Who do we find appointed them?
Active Judges
Hon. James B. Loken, Chief Judge - Clinton
Hon. Roger L. Wollman - Bush Sr.
Hon. Morris S. Arnold - Clinton
Hon. Diana E. Murphy - Clinton
Hon. Kermit E. Bye - Fargo, ND - Clinton
Hon. William Jay Riley - Bush
Hon. Michael J. Melloy - Bush
Hon. Lavenski R. Smith - Bush
Hon. Steven M. Colloton - Bush
Hon. Raymond W. Gruender - Bush
Hon. Duane Benton - Bush
Wow, just LOOK at that left wing bias!
But wait, maybe I'm cherrypicking. What about REAL bastions of liberalism? After all, we all know that the 9th Circuit are full of nothing but liberals, right?
Well, mostly right:
ACTIVE JUDGES
Schroeder, Mary M., Chief Judge - Carter
Pregerson, Harry - Carter
Reinhardt, Stephen - Carter
Kozinski, Alex Pasadena - Reagan
O'Scannlain, Diarmuid F. - Reagan
Rymer, Pamela Ann - Bush Sr.
Kleinfeld, Andrew J. - Bush Sr.
Hawkins, Michael Daly - Clinton
Thomas, Sidney R. - Clinton
Silverman, Barry G. - Clinton
Graber, Susan P. - Clinton
McKeown, M. Margaret - Clinton
Wardlaw, Kim McLane - Clinton
Fletcher, William A. San Francisco - Clinton
Fisher, Raymond C. - Clinton
Gould, Ronald M. - Clinton
Paez, Richard A. - Clinton
Berzon, Marsha S. - Clinton
Tallman, Richard C. - Clinton
Rawlinson, Johnnie B. - Clinton
Clifton, Richard R. - Bush
Bybee, Jay S. - Bush
Callahan, Consuelo M. - Bush
Bea, Carlos T. San Francisco - Bush
Of course, it would have been much closer had not three of the Reagan appointees become Senior judges during Clinton's term. But I concede the point.
However, this is what puts the lie to their claims, in my humble opinion. The 5th Circuit.
You know them. The evil activists who let Terry Schiavo die. Who refused to even hear the appeals. Who chose to repudiate the culture of life over the left winger's code of death:
5th Circuit
Chief Judge Carolyn Dineen King - Carter
Thomas M. Reavley - Carter
Will Garwood - Reagan
E. Grady Jolly - Reagan
Patrick E. Higginbotham - Reagan
W. Eugene Davis - Reagan
Edith H. Jones - Reagan
Jerry E. Smith - Reagan
John M. Duhé Jr. - Reagan
Jacques L. Wiener, Jr. - Bush Sr.
Rhesa H. Barksdale - Bush Sr.
Emilio M. Garza - Bush Sr.
Harold R. DeMoss, Jr. - Bush Sr.
Fortunato P. Benavides - Clinton
Carl E. Stewart - Clinton
James L. Dennis - Clinton
Edith Brown Clement - Bush
Edward Charles Prado - Bush
There's your activist liberal judges. Ain't they pretty?