Question: Who would John McCain appoint to the U.S. Supreme Court?
Answer:
The single most important civil liberties issue impacting the next President of the United States may be Supreme Court appointments.
In the case of John McCain, it is difficult to ascertain exactly where he stands. Like most Republican senators, he supported the 1987 Supreme Court appointment of the notoriously right-wing judicial nominee Robert Bork, who was ultimately rejected by the Democratic Senate.
Unlike most Republicans, he delivered a lengthy defense of Bork in which he described the concept of a right to privacy as "constitutionally suspect" and criticized the Court's reasoning in landmark civil rights cases. On the other hand, he was one of the "Gang of 14"--a group of moderate senators who compromised on judicial candidates in 2005, rejecting several extremely conservative Bush appointees.
McCain has promised during his presidential campaign to appoint "strict constructionists" and oppose "judicial activism" if elected president, but these terms have become largely meaningless due to overuse. Virtually any justice can be classified as a strict constructionist, and the phrase "judicial activism" is generally used to describe any court ruling with which one happens to disagree.
That being the case, it isn't really possible to say with any confidence who McCain is particularly likely to appoint to the Court. Given that he's likely to face a Democratic Senate for at least the first two years of his tenure, his options may be limited.
But if McCain does plan on appointing moderates to the Court, there is little evidence of that predilection in his campaign rhetoric or his congressional history.
Answer:
The single most important civil liberties issue impacting the next President of the United States may be Supreme Court appointments.
In the case of John McCain, it is difficult to ascertain exactly where he stands. Like most Republican senators, he supported the 1987 Supreme Court appointment of the notoriously right-wing judicial nominee Robert Bork, who was ultimately rejected by the Democratic Senate.
Unlike most Republicans, he delivered a lengthy defense of Bork in which he described the concept of a right to privacy as "constitutionally suspect" and criticized the Court's reasoning in landmark civil rights cases. On the other hand, he was one of the "Gang of 14"--a group of moderate senators who compromised on judicial candidates in 2005, rejecting several extremely conservative Bush appointees.
McCain has promised during his presidential campaign to appoint "strict constructionists" and oppose "judicial activism" if elected president, but these terms have become largely meaningless due to overuse. Virtually any justice can be classified as a strict constructionist, and the phrase "judicial activism" is generally used to describe any court ruling with which one happens to disagree.
That being the case, it isn't really possible to say with any confidence who McCain is particularly likely to appoint to the Court. Given that he's likely to face a Democratic Senate for at least the first two years of his tenure, his options may be limited.
But if McCain does plan on appointing moderates to the Court, there is little evidence of that predilection in his campaign rhetoric or his congressional history.
SHARE
