Trump Nominates Originalist Judge

For years conservatives have framed progressive or liberal judges as "activist judges" and suggesting that they use their political views to form their judicial decisions. However, for the last 30 years or so, conservatives have been working an agenda that does exactly what they purport the other side does. In nominating Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, the conservative movement has reason for patting themselves on the back. Kavanaugh, a United States Circuit Judge of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and a White House Staff Secretary under George W. Bush.  His confirmation hearings were contentious and stalled for three years over charges of partisanship. 

Where he stands in his words is "My judicial philosophy is straightforward. A judge must be independent and must interpret the law, not make the law. A judge must interpret statutes as written. And a judge must interpret the Constitution as written, informed by history and tradition and precedent.”  This puts him in the camp of the "strict Constitutionalists" or "Originalists."

Kavanaugh was part of Ken Starr's impeachment team against Bill Clinton and, according to Mother Jones,  "has so frequently inserted himself into high-profile political battles that during his confirmation hearing for his DC Circuit seat, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) called him the “Forrest Gump of Republican politics.”

For example, Kavanaugh represented former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush in his fight to overcome constitutional hurdles to his controversial school voucher program that would direct public money to private religious schools. In the 2000 election came down to Florida, he worked on George W. Bush’s legal team.

While these qualities will not endear him to many Democrats, it is his legal record that is of issue.

Kavanaugh, has been cagey around the issue of abortion. According to Wikipedia:

During his confirmation hearing in 2006 for the District of Columbia Court of Appeals, Kavanaugh stated that he considered Roe v. Wade binding under the principle of stare decisis and would seek to uphold the ruling of the higher court. However, he also ruled in favor of abortion restrictions in several cases.

In May 2006, Kavanaugh stated he "would follow Roe v. Wade faithfully and fully" and that the issue of the legality of abortion has already "been decided by the Supreme Court". During the hearing, he stated that a right to an abortion has been found "many times", citing Planned Parenthood v. Casey. 

In October 2017, Kavanaugh joined an unsigned divided panel opinion which found that the Office of Refugee Resettlement could prevent an unaccompanied minor in its custody from obtaining an abortion. Days later, the en banc D.C. Circuit reversed that judgment, with Kavanaugh now dissenting. The D.C. Circuit's opinion was then itself vacated by the U.S. Supreme Court in Garza v. Hargan (2018).

He has also been a dissenting vote in preserving the Affordable Care Act,  In 2015, Kavanaugh found that those directly regulated by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) could challenge the constitutionality of its design

There is more to be learned about Brett Kavanaugh and his hearings will likely go on for awhile.

Addendum: On-going list of articles that shed further light on his judicial background.

Trump’s Supreme Court pick: ISPs have 1st Amendment right to block websites (added 7/11/18)
Trump’s Supreme Court Nominee Is a Major Net Neutrality Opponent (added 7/11/18)
Brett Kavanaugh Has GOP Bona Fides, But a Surprising Record (Added 7/11/18)
Here’s How Kavanaugh Could Deal a Big Blow to Gun Control (Added 7/11/18)
How Brett Kavanaugh Would Change The Supreme Court (Added 7/12/18)
Judge Brett Kavanaugh: In His Own Words (Added 7/12/18)
A look at Brett Kavanaugh's opinions on guns, abortion and the environment (Added 7/12/18)
America Under Brett Kavanaugh (Added 7/12/18)

Honoring All Our Troops

CNN reports that soldiers who die by suicide will not receive a letter of condolence from the President Obama. The reason for not honoring military personnel? It is an inherited policy. The unwritten policy has been in place "at least since Bill Clinton was president," according to a New York Times article. With 184 military personnel reported dead by suicide in Afghanistan and Iraq since 2001 and at least 128 active-duty soldiers confirmed to have killed themselves in 2008, compared with 115 in 2007, 102 in 2006 and 87 in 2005, it makes no sense to dishonor their memories to their families.

Regardless of the reason for death, every military personnel deserves the recognition of the Commander-in-Chief for their service to their country. Contact the President and your Congressional Representatives to call on them to change this disrespectful policy. While you are at it, you might also ask them to stop putting our soldiers in harm's way without a good reason.

President Barack Obama

Representative Bruce Braley
Representative Leonard Boswell
Representative Steve King
Representative Tom Latham
Representative Dave Loebsack

Senator Charles Grassley
Senator Tom Harkin

Hillary Clinton Kicked Maintaining Damage Control?

As Hillary Clinton continues to campaign in the continental U.S., her spouse, the former Commander-in-Chief is trapsing about in Puerto Rico causing one to wonder if she is trying to tie down one more of her loose cannons?

The Gazette reports "Bill Clinton told Puerto Ricans on Sunday his wife will boost employment for island residents if elected president, as well as ensuring them the same access to affordable health care as people who live on the mainland.

The former president is spending two days here on behalf of his wife ahead of the June 1 Democratic primary in which Puerto Rico could have a rare opportunity to have a say in national politics."

Death (Comparisons) Be Not Proud

A story that is widely circulating points out that there were more military deaths during the Clinton Administration than during the war in Iraq. Numbers don't lie, right? Well, it ain't necessarily so.

According to a CRS report to Congress from June 2007, during the 8 years of the Clinton Administration (including peacekeeping efforts in Kosovo and Somalia), the were 76 military personnel that died in battle or by terrorist attack, compared to 2,651 that had been KIA or by terrorist attack from 2001 to 2006 during the Bush administration during which we have been at war in Afghanistan and Iraq.

It is true that 7500 soldiers died from 1993-2000 (Clinton's 8 year administration), but 8792 have died in 6 years from 2001-2006 of G.W. Bush's. The important distinction is cause of death.

Many military personnel die in accidents, illness, homicide, and suicide and in the case of Clinton's administration, 1% were killed in action/terrorist attack, 52% died in accidents, 20% committed suicide, 6% by homicide, and 19% died by illness.

In the Bush years through 2006, 30% were killed in action/terrorist attack, 36% in accidents, 11% committed suicide, 6% by homicide, and 15% by illness.

Kerry v. Clinton: Nevada Caucus Skirmish

Heavyweights Bill Clinton and John Kerry acted as infighting surrogates on a last minute lawsuit by plaintiffs with alleged connections to the Hillary Clinton campaign intended to prevent some service workers from caucusing at select Nevada casinos.

Former President Clinton argued that the casino caucuses were deliberately set up to have a disproportionate impact on the outcome of the contest. Clinton said, "Do you really believe that all the Democrats understood that they had agreed to give everybody who voted in a casino a vote worth five times as much as people who voted in their own precinct? Did you know that?"

Clinton is referring to a decision last March by the Nevada Democratic Party to have special at-large caucus sites to allow those service workers to participate in the caucus. The Culinary Workers Union, who represents those workers was involved in pushing for the sites.

Meanwhile former presidential candidate and current Barack Obama supporter, John Kerry, accused those who brought the lawsuit of attempting to disenfranchise voters. Said Kerry, "Mere days before the caucus, we now see a lawsuit to shut down those at-large sites and deny the casino workers their right to vote. Three of the plaintiffs voted for the very plan they’re now trying to block – reasonable people have guessed they’re changing their minds presumably because just a few days ago the Culinary Workers Union endorsed Barack Obama."

For their part, both Obama and Hillary Clinton are distancing themselves. Hillary Clinton said she is aware of the lawsuit, but hopes it "can be resolved by the courts and the state party because, obviously, we want as many people as possible to be able to participate. ... In the meantime, I'm just going to campaign as hard as I can here in Nevada."

Obama, at a Culinary Union event Sunday, said the rules were fine until the union decided "'I'm going to support the outsider, I'm going to support the guy who's standing with the working people instead of the big shots.'"

"You don't win an election and you don't serve democracy by trying to keep people out," Obama said. "You're supposed to try to bring them in and encourage everybody to get involved."

Quotes from the AP, the NY Sun, and TPM Cafe

Bill Clinton on Obama "Give Me a Break"

The politics get deep. See Bill Clinton's reaction to a question about Mark Penn and turning it around to go after Barack Obama.

Cities Get Green for Buildings to Go Green

The AP reports that sixteen cities around the world will get financing to "go green" by renovating buildings they own with technology designed to cut carbon emissions, former President Bill Clinton announced Wednesday. Clinton's foundation has created an arrangement among four energy service companies and five global banking institutions that will result in major environmental upgrades in the cities, which include New York, Chicago, Houston, Toronto, Mexico City, London, Berlin, Tokyo and Rome. "If all buildings were as efficient as they could be, we'd be saving an enormous amount of energy and significantly reducing carbon emissions. Also, we'd be saving a ton of money," Clinton said. The planned projects include replacing heating, cooling and lighting systems with energy-efficient networks; making roofs white or reflective to deflect more of the sun's heat; sealing windows and installing new models that let more light in and keep the elements out; and setting up sensors to control more efficient use of lights and air conditioning. The former president said Citi, Deutsche Bank, JP Morgan Chase, UBS and ABN Amro have each committed $1 billion to finance the upgrades. Clinton announced the partnership Wednesday, joined by mayors of several of the cities, as part of an international climate summit he is hosting this week in New York City with Mayor Michael Bloomberg. It is the second meeting of the C40 Large Cities Climate Summit, which was created so mayors and local governments could share strategies for reversing the trends of climate change. "It really is groundbreaking; it really is going to make a difference," Bloomberg said.