Michael McConnell for Supreme Court Justice

On the Trail of the Latest High Court Contender

Tony Mauro
Legal Times
06-06-2005


He's the latest flavor of the week on the rapidly changing menu of potential Supreme Court nominees: Michael McConnell, a mild-mannered yet controversial judge from Utah who skis and hikes and last year taught a course on Plato's "Republic."

But as scrutiny of his record intensifies, it's hard for many to decide exactly what McConnell is: conservative, liberal, or a perplexing blend of both.

Capitol Hill sources and other players in the increasingly frenzied Supreme Court sweepstakes place McConnell, a judge on the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, at or near the top of the short list of possible picks for the high court if a vacancy occurs later this month.

And while some liberals like McConnell, others are gearing up for a battle royal against him, especially over his sharp opposition to abortion rights and his deep support for school vouchers and for aid to parochial schools.

"He is very troubling, and very likely," says Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

- rest at SOURCE

Pretty much anyone, or anything, that Barry Lynn is against is usually a good reason to be for such a one or thing.

It looks to me that he has enough of a libertarian streak among his conservatism(as I also do) to cause problems for the liberals in opposing him.

He once wrote that Roe v. Wade is "an embarrassment to those who take constitutional law seriously."

Bill Kristol calls him "probably the leading constitutional thinker of his generation".

 

I just emailed the following to President Bush:

Dear President Bush,

I would like to encourage you to nominate a solid conservative for the U.S. Supreme Court vacancy. I think that someone like Michael McConnell would fit the bill quite nicely.

Please do not nominate someone considered to be a moderate, especially on the social issues that will come before the court. One of the main reasons that conservatives voted for you in 2000 and in 2004 was to place conservative justices on the U.S. Supreme Court. I am afraid that if you fail to do so that it would tear the Republican Party apart and cause the liberal Democrats to reclaim both houses of Congress in 2006 and the presidency in 2008.

There are millions and millions of us who are prepared to support your nomination of a conservative justice to the U.S. Supreme Court and to help you push him or her successfully through the U.S. Senate confirmation process. Please don't buckle to the complaints of the liberals and we will stand with you in this effort.

Sincerely yours,

Ken Hamilton
El Dorado, Arkansas

 

PFAW certainly doesn't like this fellow. I think that a great reason for social conservatives to like him :

www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/default.aspx?oid=5030

 

I want to make it clear that while McConnell is my first choice, as long as Bush nominates a solid conservative that I will certainly support his nominee.

 

Roe v. Wade at 25:
Still Illegitimate

By Michael W. McConnell
Wednesday, September 18, 2002 12:01 a.m. EDT

(Editor's note: This article originally appeared in The Wall Street Journal, Jan. 22, 1998.)

Twenty-five years ago today, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down its decision legalizing abortion throughout the country. The day before Roe v. Wade, abortion was flatly illegal in almost all states, though a few had recently relaxed their laws. On the day after Roe, women suddenly had a constitutional right to get an abortion for any reason, a right that effectively applied at any time during the nine months of pregnancy. (In theory, states could still ban abortion in the last three months unless it was necessary for the health of the woman--but the court defined "health" so broadly as to make this limitation meaningless.) The number of abortions quickly soared to almost 1.5 million every year, roughly 30% of all pregnancies.

- rest at SOURCE