The Parties on the Courts: A Judicial Confirmation Network Analysis of Party Positions

The Judicial Confirmation Network (www.judicialnetwork.com) today released "The Parties on the Courts," a chart comparing the positions of the Democratic and Republican parties on federal courts and judges.

The chart is based upon the positions outlined in the two parties'
respective platforms from their conventions, as well as the statements
made by the presidential candidates for each party.

"There is perhaps no clearer distinction between the Republican and
Democratic parties than their positions on judges, and particularly the
appointments that each candidate would make to the U.S. Supreme Court,"
said Wendy E. Long, counsel to JCN. "Because the next President is
likely to choose Justices that will determine the outcome of important
cases for the next generation, the stakes for the Supreme Court could
not be higher than they are in this election.

"John McCain and the Republican platform identify judicial activism as
a threat to self-government and reject judges legislating from the
bench. Barack Obama and the Democratic platform do not, which is not
surprising given that Obama has said he prefers liberal activist judges
and would not appoint those who practice judicial restraint.

"The Republican platform condemns the Court's erosion of private
property rights, its granting legal rights to enemy combatants, its
interference with the death penalty, its intrusion into the realm of
abortion policy, its undermining of traditional marriage laws, and its
injection of foreign law into American jurisprudence. The platform is
clear and specific about the problems of the courts and what the model
of the judiciary should be.

"The Democrats are silent about all of this. Instead, their platform
recites self-evident propositions that fail to illuminate the
differences between the parties, including statements such as: 'Our
Constitution is not a nuisance.' It's odd that anyone would even
evaluate the Constitution in such terms, but the reason the Democrats
don't consider the Constitution a 'nuisance' is that they have no
qualms about running around it in order to impose liberal policies on
the American people."

The Parties on the Courts
A Judicial Confirmation Network Analysis of Party Positions
September 2008

Platform position
Calls judicial activism a threat?
Opposes Kelo eminent domain decision?
Opposes Court granting legal rights to enemy combatants?
Opposes Court's interference with death penalty?
Opposes courts setting abortion policies?
Opposes judges undermining traditional marriage laws?
Opposes judges injecting foreign law into American jurisprudence?
Opposes Senate inquiry into a judicial candidate's religious convictions?GOP
YES
YES
YES
YES
YES
YES
YES
YES DEM
NO
NO
NO
NO
NO
NO
NO
NO