News Blog for social, fiscal & national security conservatives who believe in God, family & the USA. Upholding the rights granted by God & guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution, traditional family values, "republican" principles / ideals, transparent & limited "smaller" government, free markets, lower taxes, due process of law, liberty & individual freedom. Content approval rests with the ARRA News Service Editor. Opinions are those of the authors. While varied positions are reported, beliefs & principles remain fixed. No revenue is generated for or by this "Blog" - no paid ads - no payments for articles.Fair Use Doctrine is posted & used. Blogger/Editor/Founder: Bill Smith, Ph.D. [aka: OzarkGuru & 2010 AFP National Blogger of the Year] Contact: editor@arranewsservice.com (Pub. Since July, 2006)Home PageFollow @arra
One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics
is that you end up being governed by your inferiors. -- Plato
(429-347 BC)
Monday, February 13, 2017
The ‘Grand Tradition’ Of The Ginsburg Standard
No Hints, No Forecasts, No Previews… And No Special Obligations
THE GINSBURG STANDARD:‘Judge … Are Bound To Decide Concrete Cases, Not Abstract Issues’
JUDGE RUTH BADER GINSBURG:“You are well aware that I came to this proceeding to be judged as a judge, not as an advocate. Because I am and hope to continue to be a judge, it would be wrong for me to say or preview in this legislative chamber how I would cast my vote on questions the Supreme Court may be called upon to decide. Were I to rehearse here what I would say and how I would reason on such questions, I would act injudiciously. Judges in our system are bound to decide concrete cases, not abstract issues; each case is based on particular facts and its decision should turn on those facts and the governing law, stated and explained in light of the particular arguments the parties or their representatives choose to present. A judge sworn to decide impartially can offer no forecasts, no hints, for that would show not only disregard for the specifics of the particular case, it would display disdain for the entire judicial process.”(U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, Hearing, 7/20/1993)
JUDGE STEPHEN BREYER: “Let us imagine, if I am lucky and if you find me qualified and vote to confirm me, I will be a member of the Supreme Court, and, as a member of that Court, I will consider with an open mind the cases that arise in that Court. And there is nothing more important to a judge than to have an open mind and to listen carefully to the arguments... I will try very hard to give you an impression, an understanding of how I think about legal problems of all different kinds. At the same time, I do not want to predict or commit myself on an open issue that I feel is going to come up in the Court.”(U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, Hearing, 7/12/1994)
FORMER SEN. STROM THURMOND (R-SC): “Judge Breyer, it is likely that Justice Blackmun is most widely known to the public as the author of Roe v. Wade. What was your impression of his majority opinion in that landmark decision? In particular, give us your thoughts on where he draws the line at different points during pregnancy as it relates to the State's interest in the regulation of abortion-related services? For instance, do you agree that the first trimester of pregnancy is distinctive and that the State should not be able to prohibit abortion during that period?” JUDGE BREYER: “You are asking questions, Senator, that I know are matters of enormous controversy... The questions that you are putting to me are matters of how that basic right applies, where it applies, under what circumstances. And I do not think I should go into those for the reason that those are likely to be the subject of litigation in front of the Court.”(U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, Hearing, 7/12/1994)
JUDGE JOHN ROBERTS:“It's a matter of great importance not only to potential Justices but to judges.We're sensitive to the need to maintain the independence and integrity of the court. I think it's vitally important that nominees, to use Justice Ginsburg's words, ‘no hints, no forecasts, no previews.’ They go on the Court not as a delegate from this committee with certain commitments laid out and how they're going to approach cases, they go on the Court as Justices who will approach cases with an open mind and decide those cases in light of the arguments presented, the record presented and the rule of law. And the litigants before them have a right to expect that and to have the appearance of that as well. That has been the approach that all of the Justices have taken.”(U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, Hearing, 9/13/2005)
ABC’S TERRY MORAN: “…this week, in an extraordinary statement, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a Democrat nominated by President Clinton, took Roberts’s side.” JUSTICE RUTH BADER GINSBURG: “Judge Roberts was unquestionably right.”(ABC’s “World News Tonight,” 9/29/2005)
JUDGE SAMUEL ALITO:“But the line that I have to draw, and I think every nominee, including Justice Ginsburg, has drawn, is to say that, when it comes to something that realistically could come before the Court, they can’t answer about how they would decide that question. That would be a disservice to the judicial process.”(U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, Hearing, 1/11/2006)
SEN. CHUCK GRASSLEY (R-IA): “Well, then maybe it would be fair for me to ask you what is your understanding of the constitutional limitations then on government entity -- any government entity taking land for public purpose?” JUDGE SONIA SOTOMAYOR:“...As I've indicated to you, opining on a hypothetical is very, very difficult for a judge to do. And as a potential justice on the Supreme Court but, more importantly, as a Second Circuit judge still sitting, I can't engage in a question that involves hypotheses.”(U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, Hearing, 7/14/2009)
JUDGE SOTOMAYOR:“What my experience on the trial court and the appellate court have reinforced for me is that the process of judging is a process of keeping an open mind. It's the process of not coming to a decision with a prejudgment ever of an outcome, and that reaching a conclusion has to start with understanding what the parties are arguing, but examining in all situations carefully the facts as they prove them or not prove them, the record as they create it, and then making a decision that is limited to what the law says on the facts before the judge.” (U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, Hearing, 7/14/2009)
SEN. DIANNE FEINSTEIN (D-CA): “My question to the chief justice and now to you is: do you agree with the direction the Supreme Court has moved in more narrowly, interpreting congressional authority to enact laws under the Commerce Clause? Generally, not relating to any one case.” JUDGE SOTOMAYOR: “No, I know. But the question assumes a prejudgment by me of what's an appropriate approach or not in a new case that may come before me as a Second Circuit judge or, again, if I'm fortunate enough to be a justice on the Supreme Court. So it's not a case I can answer in a broad statement.”(U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, Hearing, 7/14/2009)
SOLICITOR GENERAL ELENA KAGAN:“[T]he Senate has a very significant role to play in picking Supreme Court Justices ... and part of that is getting some sense, some feel of how a nominee approaches legal issues ... But I would say that there are limits on that. [S]ome of the limits I talked about in [a law review] article ... I mean, that article makes very clear that it would be inappropriate for a nominee to talk about how she will rule on pending cases or on cases beyond that that might come before the Court in the future.”(U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, Hearing, 6/29/2010)
Senate Democrats Have Acknowledged The Importance Of The Ginsburg Standard
SEN. PAT LEAHY (D-VT), Former Judiciary Committee Chairman:“I certainly don’t want you to have to lay out a test here in the abstract which might determine what your vote or your test would be in a case you have yet to see that may well come before the Supreme Court.”(U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, Hearing, 7/21/1993)
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY):“There is a grand tradition that I support that you can't ask a judge who’s nominated for a -- or a potential judge who is nominated -- for a judgeship about a specific case that might come before them.”(Sen. Schumer, Press Conference, 2/7/2017)
THE NEW DEMOCRAT DOUBLE STANDARD:‘This New Nominee To The Supreme Court Has To Pass A Special Test,’ ‘Special Burden On This Nominee’ To ‘Be More Forthcoming With His Views On Specific Issues’
SCHUMER:“This new nominee to the Supreme Court has to pass a special test, in my opinion, of true independence from the president.” (Sen. Schumer, Congressional Record, S.997, 2/9/17)
SCHUMER: “…there is a special burden on this nominee to be an independent jurist…” (Sen. Schumer, Congressional Record, S.610, 2/2/17)
SEN. DICK BLUMENTHAL (D-CT):“I understand that Supreme Court nominees are expected to avoid some questions, especially about future cases. But, we are in a very unusual time. … There is a special obligation for Judge Gorsuch to set the record straight and be more forthcoming with his views on specific issues.”(Sen. Blumenthal, Press Conference, 2/8/17)
BLUMENTHAL: “I said to Judge Gorsuch, and I believe that ordinary a Supreme Court nominee would not be expected to comment on issues or political matters or cases to come before the court. But we're in a very unusual situation. … I think he has to be specific, direct, explicit.” (CNN, 2/9/17)
Judge Gorsuch Is Following The ‘Ginsburg Standard’ Supreme Court Justices Have Embraced At Their Own Confirmation Hearings
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): “I spent a great deal of time, in our meeting asking Judge Gorsuch straight forward and direct questions… I asked him about whether a Muslim ban could in concept be constitutional.” (Sen. Schumer, Press Conference, 2/7/17)
“A federal appeals court will decide whether to reinstate President Donald Trump's travel ban after a contentious hearing in which the judges hammered away at the administration's motivations for the ban, but also directed pointed questions to an attorney for two states trying to overturn it... A ruling could come as early as Wednesday and could be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court.”(“Travel Ban Decision In Hands Of Federal Appeals Court Judges,” The Associated Press, 2/08/2017)
SEN. DICK BLUMENTHAL (D-CT): “The biggest red flag for me was his lack of specificity in response to a number of my questions. For example, on Roe v. Wade… he was less specific than I thought he should be.”(MSNBC, 2/9/17) Tags:Grand Tradition, Ginsburg StandardTo share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. and "Like" Facebook Page - Thanks!
Personal Tweets by the editor: Dr. Bill - OzarkGuru - @arra
#Christian Conservative; Retired USAF & Grad Professor. Constitution NRA ProLife schoolchoice fairtax - Editor ARRA NEWS SERVICE. THANKS FOR FOLLOWING!
To Exchange Links - Email: editor@arranewsservice.com!
Comments by contributing authors or other sources do not necessarily reflect the position the editor, other contributing authors, sources, readers, or commenters. No contributors, or editors are paid for articles, images, cartoons, etc. While having reported on and promoting principles & beleifs beliefs of other organizations, this blog/site is soley controlled and supported by the editor. This site/blog does not advertise for money or services nor does it solicit funding for its support.
Fair Use: This site/blog may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Such material is made available to advance understanding of political, human rights, economic, democracy, and social justice issues, etc. This constitutes a 'fair use' of such copyrighted material as provided for in section Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 of the US Copyright Law. Per said section, the material on this site/blog is distributed without profit to readers to view for the expressed purpose of viewing the included information for research, educational, or satirical purposes. Any person/entity seeking to use copyrighted material shared on this site/blog for purposes that go beyond "fair use," must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home