The biggest boost the GOP could give its Presidential candidate is to make the 2008 election largely about the Supreme Court. Justice Stevens is in his late 80s, Ginsburg is in her 70s and ill, and the country needs more Scalia/Roberts/Alito/Thomas quality jurists, not Breyer or Kennedy. The phrase "all politics are local" is an all-too-accurate truism, but the GOP can employ that concept by having its candidate talk about how reasonable local laws that comply with the Constitution should not be tossed aside by some liberal judge in Washington who looks to the proclamations of the EU, random African potentates and the UN, or whose view of the Constitution is an evolving one based upon changing conditions in society.
Yesterday marked two anniversaries: First, the 20th anniversary of the vote in the Senate denying consent to the appointment of Robert H. Bork to the Supreme Court. A defeat for prudent juridical values that ultimately resulted in Anthony Kennedy's appointment -- a terrible outcome because the nation's largest legal issues are now hostage to one man's whims since Kennedy became the swing vote on the Court.
Second, the 16th anniversary of Clarence Thomas' swearing-in as the 106th Justice of the Supreme Court. After completely bonking on his first appointment (Souter), George Bush the elder made a great appointment with Justice Thomas. Yesterday, the Justice was in Dallas for a Heritage Foundation/National Center for Policy Analysis/Federalist Society lunch to discuss his memoir and his approach to the Court and to life. A fine event that displayed Justice Thomas' humor, insight, erudition, and overall good nature.
In the WSJ yesterday, Gary McDowell discussed the fallout from the Bork defeat and what it portends for the future.
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