Book Excerpts

Excerpts

I was a participant in this battle. I watched the Senate transform from the time of my unanimous confirmation to the Federal District Court for Southern Mississippi in 1990 to the past four years when a minority even refused to allow a vote on my nomination. I saw the inside of the process: its failings, shortcomings, and weaknesses. As a judge, I held my tongue while facing slanderous attacks. As a nominee, I remained quiet and allowed the parties involved to hammer out their political agendas. Now as a private citizen I can share my thoughts and suggestions, help create an awareness of the source and nature of the conflict, and present solutions to improve the process.

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Nan Aron, president of the liberal Alliance for Justice—which opposes conservative judges like me and helps lead the fight against President Bush’s judicial nominees—divulged the truth to a National Public Radio audience: “Because the Republicans now control the House, the Senate, and the White House for the first time in basically a hundred years, there is obviously no way we’re going to get any new rights created by the Congress. So now we have to look to the courts to create new rights that we won’t be able to get from the legislature.” Her agenda is clear: liberal activist judges should legislate from the bench because the left wing failed to win support from the American people at the ballot box.

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I did not choose to be a flag bearer for the Bush nominees. I did not choose to be a symbol in the culture war. I did not choose to be a part of this fight. As a judge, I had no agenda in going to the U.S. Fifth Circuit other than to follow the rule of law and to base my decisions on Supreme Court precedents, prior Fifth Circuit precedents, and in cases where there were no controlling precedents, the Constitution according to its meaning at the time it was adopted. Far Left special-interest groups—determined to maintain an unrestricted right of abortion and fearing conservative nominees who openly speak of their religious faith—thrust this role upon me and other nominees.

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Three-part collision—procedural, political, and cultural—caused the current battle over judicial confirmations. (1) There is no detailed binding and controlling process for the confirmation of federal judges. (2) Democrats are retaliating against Republicans for not confirming some of President Bill Clinton’s judicial nominees. (3) The liberal philosophy of a “living Constitution” transfers hot-button social issues from the legislative forum tothe judicial arena.

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If a long-term, permanent solution is to be found to the judicial confirmation quagmire, it must be something that is fair and reasonable to both Democrats and Republicans; both sides must have meaningful input. The continued escalation of this battle will do good to no one, especially the American people.