Sunday, July 10, 2005

Ramesh is wrong, Will is right

The Monk has previously noted approval for J. Harvie Wilkinson III as a choice to fill a Supreme Court spot. If Chief Justice Rehnquist decides to retire, The Monk would push for Wilkinson as a new Chief Justice with another justice to replace Justice O'Connor.

Ramesh Ponnuru of National Review characterizes Wilkinson as another Lewis Powell. This is not the worst thing in the world, and understates Wilkinson's conservatism. Will notes the judge's personal modesty and unwillingness to adhere to any doctrinal extreme but fails to make a case for Wilkinson's conservatism. That case seems easy to make: he is in favor of extensive executive branch power in the war against the terrorists; he is against affirmative action, against use of international law in US judicial decisions, voted to uphold the don't ask/don't tell policy against challenge from gay rights organization, and dissented to the award of emotional distress damages to Jerry Falwell from a famous Hustler parody -- a pro-free speech opinion later vindicated when the Supreme Court reversed the decision Wilkinson dissented from.

Thus, Ramesh seems to sell Wilkinson short.

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