What's Important 7

Seventh in a series.

This entry's from Bill Berkowitz at IPS News:

On May 6, while Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton were still battling it out in Democratic presidential primaries in Indiana and North Carolina, the Republican Party's presumptive presidential nominee, Arizona Senator John McCain, stopped off at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina to deliver a speech about his judicial philosophy.

While McCain spoke about a number of issues related to the Constitution, including the separation of powers that it enshrines, the subtext of his remarks was red meat to conservatives. The candidate assured them that he was resolutely opposed to so-called "judicial activism", and that a McCain administration would nominate Supreme Court justices in the mould of Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Samuel A. Alito, Jr., both of whom were appointed by President George W. Bush. ...

Around the same time McCain delivered his remarks in North Carolina, his campaign announced the names of those who would help him select nominees for judicial positions. Heading up the effort are two longtime hard line conservatives, Theodore B. Olson, former solicitor general of the United States, and Kansas Senator Sam Brownback.

With the advanced age of two of the four liberal-leaning justices on the court -- John Paul Stevens is 88 and Ruth Bader Ginsburg is 75 -- a factor, and the possibility that David Souter has had enough, the next president could name as many as three new Supreme Court Justices during his first term alone.

Who McCain would appoint to the U.S. Supreme Court and other courts is something that independents will have to weigh carefully when they enter the polling booths. If his North Carolina speech is a signpost, it appeared to indicate that the Arizona senator's "maverick" status will not be in play when it comes to the courts.

Although McCain has been trying to separate himself from President Bush's policies and philosophy, in Winston-Salem he made it pretty clear that when it comes to his judicial nominees, he's comfortable using Bush's playbook.