FOLLOW THE MONEY
Just a note to call to your attention this article: Bush Judicial Nominees Bring Close Corporate Ties to the Bench, and the important links provided therein.
"CIR's investigation into the financial interests of 59 federal judges nominated by the Bush Administration suggests that an unprecedented number of judicial nominees have built a career representing the interests of particular industries whose fate they could very well be deciding from the bench. We found that many federal judges between 2001 and 2004 had former lives as lobbyists and lawyers representing the interests of entire industries (such as coal, energy and mining), suggesting a web of financial and professional entanglements that could pose a conflict of interest when a case lands in a judge's court from one of those same industries. Our assessment also suggests that current guidelines governing the redaction of information from disclosure forms and the standards for recusal lack the clarity or breadth to prevent abuses of the current system.Favorable fillibuster compromise or no, it probably is going to be at least two generations before the slanted, corporatist judicial appointments of the Bush administration fade from influence -- if our democracy even survives them. Posted by larre at May 24, 2005 08:47 AM
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It's always a good strategy to let your opponent think that they've won or are beating you.
So let me add, well done Democrats! You've been getting the upper hand in this thing for the past decade. You sure took the GOP for a ride on this one.
Posted by muckdog at May 24, 2005 09:11 AM"...could very well hurt us in the long run..."
You sound like a freaking stock broker. Yes, it could. Or, it could not. Stop being a pussy and put your reputation on the line and tell us which way you think this will break in the long and short term. Because if you're unwilling to do this you're no better than a flip of the coin, which means nobody should be reading you.
Posted by Albinoid at May 24, 2005 09:23 AMI'll say it - this agreement will most likely go out the window the minute a Bush Supreme Court nomination hits the floor. Heck, it may not even last if a new crop of Bush appointees are even more wild-eyed than the current one. We'll be right back at The Nuclear Option, and I don't see how the statesmen of the Senate will pull another save.
This is providing that there's no Clarence 'Pornograpohic Sexual Harrassment' Thomas sideshow to occupy the media twits.
Posted by idiosynchronic at May 24, 2005 10:33 AMI'll say this is a better deal than losing the nuclear war already. Of course the Republican "leadership" will roll out the nukes when we have a Supreme up for grabs. The difference will be that the 7 Republicans who signed this deal are now on record as having agreed that the filibuster is not unconsitutional.
Another difference is that it will be later in the year, with less time to vote before the end of the year. Dems hopefully, would be able to out drag the process out until people are thinking about mid-term elections. Very few ordinary citizens were paying any attention to the ramifications for democracy. If the comes back with a Supreme Court nominee, during election season, we will be in much better shape to win a nuclear war. It would still be perhaps, too close to call, but the groundwork that's been laid favors preservation of the filibuster.
Let's stop thinking in the same kind of black and white mentality as our enemy. Reid played this one about as well as he could with 44/45 votes. The Republicans wanted this to be over and forgotten ASAP. Frist has lost to his own "moderates" and that is a good thing. Maybe they'll decide they do have a right to breathe without permission.
Posted by DeminNewJ at May 24, 2005 01:10 PM