Judicial

On this Thanksgiving holiday, the United States circuit and district courts have reason to be thankful that a number of the 83 lower court vacancies which have existed for more than three years may finally be filled. Those openings, which first reached 90 in August 2009, have hovered at or near that figure ever since. However, it remains unclear precisely how many of those empty seats the U.S. Senate and President Barack Obama will soon fill. This uncertainty persists, especially given the mixed record of cooperation on judicial appointments compiled throughout the first Obama Administration and the myriad difficulties, particularly the “fiscal cliff,” which the nation continues to experience. Nevertheless, Obama and the Senate must work together this Thanksgiving to fill the unoccupied posts.

This year marks the first Veterans Day since President Obama became the first sitting president to embrace the freedom to marry (and win reelection on a freedom to marry platform). Explaining his change of heart – the same change in favor of the freedom to marry that a majority of Americans have made – the commander in hief cited his conversations with, and respect for, lesbian and gay service members, their spouses, and their families.
 
But because of the so-called Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), gay and lesbian people serving our country continue to be treated unequally, and their families denied critical protections provided to all others.

An essential duty that the Constitution delegates the president is appointing federal judges. President Barack Obama capably fulfilled that responsibility by working closely with Virginia Democratic Senators Jim Webb and Mark Warner and efficaciously proposing and appointing strong jurists, so that the Virginia federal bench has all its judges.

Halloween is the perfect occasion for analyzing scary federal judicial selection with three judges assuming senior status on October 31. The bench experiences 83 vacancies in the 858 appellate and district judgeships. The openings first spiked to 90 in August 2009 and have since remained near ten percent. These empty seats are ghost-like apparitions that do nothing to resolve huge caseloads. Thus, President Barack Obama must promptly nominate, and the Senate expeditiously confirm, lower court nominees, or the nation will confront the nightmare of a judiciary that cannot deliver justice.

Since 1987, Republican and Democratic accusations, countercharges and paybacks have haunted selection mainly because of divided government. Democrats now control the White House and the Senate. However, the party should continue cooperating with Republicans to reduce these counterproductive dynamics because the process has stopped until the November lame duck session.

With polls showing the presidential race to be dead even, Mitt Romney would do well to remind voters in key swing states of his position on social issues like marriage, life and religious liberty. They could tip the scale in this election.
 
The Karl Rove wing of the GOP and the Republican elite have succeeded in keeping social issues off the table in this general election, deeming them to be “divisive.” They’ve understandably focused their campaign on the Obama record, especially as it relates to the economy. But Obama also has a record on social issues, and that record puts him at odds with a large majority of voters in key swing states. Unfortunately, voters in those states haven’t heard much about the Obama record on marriage, life and religious liberty, and Romney himself hasn’t done much to make these issues a central part of his messaging. This is a key strategic mistake that he should remedy while he still has the chance.

It was more than 40 years ago when two young prosecutors, one from the biggest city in Pennsylvania and one from a smaller town in rural Vermont, came together at an annual meeting of the National District Attorneys Association in Philadelphia. Little did Arlen Specter and I know then that we would spend 30 years working together in the United States Senate, building on our bond as former prosecutors, seeking to bridge the partisan divide, and striving to find common ground on some of the most contentious issues of our time.  
 
Arlen Specter’s public service began during the Korean War. When elected to serve as Philadelphia’s District Attorney, he led landmark prosecutions against public corruption and to rid his city’s streets of some of the country’s most hardened criminals. He was a prosecutor’s prosecutor.

Money and politics have always gone hand in hand. But this year, we are witnessing the first presidential election in which big corporations can contribute unlimited funds to media campaigns that directly support or attack candidates. In this brave new world, big money donors are coloring voters’ views of candidates which can make or break political careers at an unprecedented scale. The influence of big money interests continues once candidates are elected, with all of the access money can buy.
 
We must work to fix the massive structural issues that have allowed big money to distort our political landscape. But in the meantime, we also need to find ways to level the playing field for everyone. And that means protecting today’s greatest equalizer: the Internet.

As high school seniors across the nation get ready for Homecoming, today the Supreme Court will be hearing arguments that could determine what kinds of experiences they will be exposed to in college next year. The Court will hear Fisher v. Texas  and decide whether the University of Texas -- and, by extension, all institutions of higher learning -- can consider the race of a student as one factor among many in a holistic review of a student applicant. The Supreme Court has already endorsed, as constitutional, an admissions policy very similar to that used by Texas a half-dozen times over the last half century, and, most recently, nine years ago in Grutter v. Bollinger. Yet, despite having this matter settled many times previously, we are somehow again debating the importance that quality and diversity play in our nation’s colleges and universities.

The first presidential debate tomorrow (October 3) will almost surely include a question about appointing judges. Barack Obama’s answer will be fairly mundane. The president will likely stand on his appointment of Supreme Court Justices Kagan and Sotomayor and repeat his line about picking nominees with empathy for women and ordinary folks. But for Mitt Romney, whose record on federal judicial appointments is yet to be written, the judges question provides an opportunity for a memorable answer – one that can win him the votes of conservatives, independents and libertarians.

Two weeks ago Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz released his report detailing many of the failures within the department and its operations related to Operation Fast and Furious. Immediately after, this administration and numerous media outlets kicked their spin machines into high gear in defense of Attorney General Eric Holder. Their number one mission: convince the American public that the search for answers is over and celebrate the exoneration of Attorney General Holder.