CINCINNATI (TDB) -- The complete text of the ruling by the Ohio-based 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals allowing the Bush administration's warrantless surveillance program is 65-pages long.
It offers a comprehensive legal review about presidential powers and national security. It is definitely worth reading -- no matter which side you are on, pro-administration or not.
The appeals court split 2-1, with two Republican appointed judges backing President Bush. Julia Smith Gibbons of Tennessee and Alice Marie Batchelder of Medina County in Ohio were in the majority. Judge Ronald Lee Gilman, a Democrat and Memphis law school prof put on the bench by Bill Clinton, wrote the dissent. It starts on page 46 of the ruling.
Does it seem that our federal legal system is divided along party lines? Are their too many one-vote margins deciding major constitutional issues? And how much of this narrow outlook can be traced back to the Supreme Court's 5-4 ruling after the disputed November 2000 presidential election; the election that Al Gore won by popular vote but lost by a sole vote in the legal system.
"Al Gore won by popular vote but lost by a sole vote in the legal system."
ReplyDeleteHe may have won the popular vote (we'll never know just how pervasive the vote fraud was), but he lost the election by a lot more than the one vote in the Supreme Court. He lost the Electoral vote because he lost Florida by a few hundred votes. The 5-4 decision in the SCOTUS ended the shenanigans of doing a recount in parts of the state rather than the entire state.
C'mon, leave the silly stolen election claims to the far left.
As to the subject of your post, I do share your concern that there are judges basing decisions not necessarily on the legal merits but on political considerations. Problem is 25% of us are convinced it is leftist judges who are being political, another 25% think it is right wing judges, and then you have around 50% who just don't care.
LargeBill --
ReplyDeleteI loved your comment because you expressed the feelings, without rancor, of the folks on your side of the issue.
I really do disagree with you, though, about the 2000 election. Bush made it to the White House by one vote in the SCOTUS.