Obama's First Appellate Court Nominee David Hamilton: ACLU Activist Is No "Moderate"

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASETUESDAY, MARCH 17, 2009FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: MEGAN ERHARDT (703)-683-5004WASHINGTON, D.C. --- The Judicial Confirmation Network (www.judicialnetwork.com) today reacted to President Obama's reported plans to make his first nomination to the U.S. Court of Appeals this week, Judge David Hamilton from Indiana:"Judge Hamilton is no 'moderate,' as the Obama White House is trying to spin him. The fact is, he was vice-president for litigation and a board member of the Indiana chapter of the ACLU, and he appears to have made rulings that show his willingness to bend the law to reach outcomes favored by his ACLU allies, which are inconsistent with the proper role of a judge under our Constitution but which fit the pattern of ruling based upon 'heart' and 'empathy' for certain classes of litigants, which then-candidate Barack Obama said he would be looking for in judges during the campaign. The problem is, judges cannot rule on that basis; their job is to apply the law impartially and not favor certain types of litigants before the court."Hamilton has a pretty clear leftist political record and was rated 'not qualified' by the ABA when President Clinton nominated him to the federal bench because his experience at that time was almost purely political, as opposed to legal and judicial. We need to read his decisions carefully to make definitive pronouncements, but it's clear that at least some of his work on the bench demonstrates his willingness to embrace judicial activism."For example, Hamilton prevented the state of Indiana from implementing an abortion law that was substantially the same as the one the Supreme Court upheld in the Casey decision. He was reversed by the 7th Circuit (the court on which he has now been nominated to sit), which noted: 'No court anywhere in the country (other than one district judge in Indiana) has held any similar law invalid in the years since Casey.'"For more information, and to schedule an interview with Ms. Long, contact Megan Erhardt at (703)-683-5004.