Senate Majority Leader Daschle

characterized the 75 bench vacancies under Clinton as a "judicial

emergency." He has failed thus far to sound the alarm regarding the

106 vacancies under G. W. Bush.

Democrats also like to describe

their nominees as "moderate," or "centrist," while

Republican nominees are "ideologues" or "extremists."

In the interest of determining what our liberal Senators consider moderate,

or centrist, we might look at some of the judges nominated by Democrats

in the recent past:

Judge Norma Holloway Johnson

was appointed by President Clinton to the federal bench in the District

of Columbia. Wherein it is normal to assign cases to other judges by computer

selection, she bypassed the normal process and assigned cases involving

Clinton's rich friends caught up in the campaign finance scandals to other

judges appointed by Clinton. According to Judicial Watch, these judges

colluded in favor of the plaintiffs. Several cases were thrown out, but

were reinstated upon appeal. The appeals resulted in a conviction, and

the policy which allowed Judge Johnson to bypass the normal procedure

has since been abolished. Wasn't Judge Johnson being an "ideologue?"

U.S. District Judge Richard

Paez is nominated for the Ninth Circuit. In 1995, Judge Paez attacked

California Proposition 187, which restricted welfare for noncitizens as

anti-Latino; and Proposition 209, which insured that all races be treated

equally in hiring and appointments as "anti-civil rights" although

both propositions were undergoing challenges in court and he was officially

forbidden from commenting. He has also advocated race-based judicial appointments,

and he once ruled that U.S. corporations could be held liable for the

misdeeds of states with which they do business. Far out for a "centrist."

Another Clinton appointee,

Judge Frederica A. Massiah-Jackson of the Philadelphia Common Pleas Court

has been known to swear at prosecutors using the vilest of language. She

once betrayed the identity of undercover policemen in her court, telling

criminals to "take a good look at these guys and be careful out there."

When these events were brought up in Senate hearings, Messiah-Jackson

first denied them, then obfuscated. She once gave the minimum sentence

to a child rapist, then apologized to the rapist. The criminal was rearrested

for sexual molestation of a 9-year-old upon release. She sentenced him

to one year of probation probably earning her the liberal mantra of "moderate."

In response, former Oklahoma

Gov. Frank Keating is chairing a new bipartisan group committed to seeing

that President Bush's judicial nominees are confirmed. His organization

is called "People for Common Sense Courts," and is founded on

the principle that the American people are basically conservative, and

want strict and "common sense" judgments from the bench.

Nan Aron of the liberal Alliance

for Justice announced in December 2000 that her's and other liberal organizations

would attempt to block Bush's nominees. "It will be scorched earth,"

she said, "We won't give one lousy inch" sounding for all the

world like an "extremist."

William Fielder

Peachtree City

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