No More Right Wing Judges

I'm sick of Republicans talking about the need to appoint strict constructionists to the bench. The far right makes no bones about saying they want more of judges like Altio and Roberts, all up and down the federal bench. Finally, someone is fighting these knuckleheads.

The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights is a group of 200 organizations - folks like the NAACP, NEA, League of Women Voters, AFL-CIO, National Council of La Raza, AARP, National Council of Churches - that has been around since 1950 to fight for civil rights. "LCCR is the unifying force for national organizations representing people of color, women, children, older Americans, gays, workers and religious groups. We are leading one of the most important fights in our history the fight to stop the right-wing takeover of the courts."

Here's an example of the positions that LCCR takes:

The Senate recently held a hearing on the controversial nomination of Attorney Richard Honaker to a lifetime position on the United States District Court for the District of Wyoming. Honaker is one of many controversial nominees who threaten to weaken established constitutional rights and civil rights protections for ordinary Americans. Given the damage already done to the courts because of the President's partisan engineering, the Senate must refuse to confirm any more controversial nominees. Call your senators today at (202) 224-3121 and tell them to stop confirming controversial nominees, including Richard Honaker!

The #1 priority of Alberto Gonzales when he ran the Department of Justice was to pack every level of the federal bench with Alitos and Roberts. They pack them when they are young, so they can be there forever. They get those on the very far right to serve as lifetime federal judges because the religious right knows that every civil liberty this country has ever got (after the Bill of Rights) has come through the federal courts - Right to vote without Jim Crow laws, interracial marriage, choice, etc. The LCCR gets it "because the Supreme Court takes such a small percentage of cases, lower federal judges often represent the only shot at justice individuals get."

The right wing gets it, does the left?