After all, leading liberals believe they have a God-given right to control the courts and impose liberalism through the judiciary, no matter what the beliefs of the overwhelming majority of Americans.

New York Sen. Charles E. Schumer, a powerful member of the Democratic leadership, said Friday the Senate should not confirm another U.S. Supreme Court nominee under President Bush “except in extraordinary circumstances.”

“We should reverse the presumption of confirmation,” Schumer told the American Constitution Society convention in Washington. “The Supreme Court is dangerously out of balance. We cannot afford to see Justice Stevens replaced by another Roberts, or Justice Ginsburg by another Alito.”

Schumer’s assertion comes as Democrats and liberal advocacy groups are increasingly complaining that the Supreme Court with Bush’s nominees – Chief Justice John Roberts and Associate Justice Samuel A. Alito – has moved quicker than expected to overturn legal precedents.

Senators were too quick to accept the nominees’ word that they would respect legal precedents, and “too easily impressed with the charm of Roberts and the erudition of Alito,” Schumer said.

Let's see -- to the best of my knowledge, only one precedent was overturned last year, and that in a lawsuit dealing with product pricing. Brown v. Board of Education was vigorously upheld by the conservative majority -- much to the chagrin of liberals who wanted its central holding overturned so that government could classify students by race and then use that to send students to schools far from their homes, just like was done to little Linda Brown. They upheld the First Amendment by holding that government cannot ban all speech about officeholders prior to an election. Justice Kennedy (a moderate that liberals profess to admire) was able to further clarify the holding on partial-birth abortion from several years ago.

But not to worry -- if Schumer carries through on this threat, the GOP can pay it back in spades from blocking the confirmation of any nominee put forth by a Democrat in the White House. We may yet have a five judge court by the 2012 election.

H/T Malkin, Captain's Quarters

OPEN TRACKBACKING AT Outside the Beltway, Perri Nelson's Website, Blog @ MoreWhat.com, DeMediacratic Nation, 123beta, Adam's Blog, Right Truth, Stuck On Stupid, Webloggin, Cao's Blog, The Amboy Times, The Bullwinkle Blog, Leaning Straight Up, , Conservative Cat, Conservative Thoughts, Pursuing Holiness, third world county, Woman Honor Thyself, The Crazy Rants of Samantha Burns, The World According to Carl, Pirate's Cove, Nuke's news and views, Blue Star Chronicles, The Pink Flamingo, Wyvern Dreams, CommonSenseAmerica, Dumb Ox Daily News, High Desert Wanderer, Church and State, and Public Eye, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.

Posted by: Greg at 02:11 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
Post contains 449 words, total size 6 kb.