Judging History -- Reflecting on judicial appointments

Thomas Sowell: It is understandable that liberal Democratic presidents, beginning with Franklin D. Roosevelt, loaded the Supreme Court with liberal, Democratic justices. What is far harder to understand is how a whole succession of conservative Republican presidents -- Nixon, Ford, Reagan, and Bush 41 -- managed to appoint so many liberals to the Supreme Court. All these presidents ran on the idea that what courts in general, and the Supreme Court in particular, needed were judges who followed the law instead of making up their own new laws.

President Nixon appointed Harry Blackmun, who created a “constitutional right” to an abortion out of thin air. ... President Ford appointed John Paul Stevens, whose long history of liberal votes was climaxed by his 2005 decision that politicians can seize private homes and turn them over to other private individuals .... Even Ronald Reagan, so eloquent against group preferences and quotas, announced that he was going to appoint “a woman” to the Supreme Court during the 1980 election campaign .... a quarter of a century later, Sandra Day O’Connor’s legacy of incoherent Supreme Court opinions on such issues as affirmative action and abortion have made a mockery of the very concept of law. ...

Senate Democrats went all out to stop the nomination of Judge Robert Bork to the Supreme Court and to try to stop the nomination of Judge Clarence Thomas. These Democrats did not let either truth or decency cramp their style. But Republicans voted overwhelmingly to confirm liberal-left nominees Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen Breyer when Bill Clinton nominated them. No need to savage either nominee, but they should have been voted against — and the reasons for those votes explained to the public. Otherwise Democrats define what is a “mainstream” judge. Republicans need to rethink their views on judges — [Read Complete Article]

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