People for the American Way on Edith Brown Clement

[housewolf]

Fifth Circuit Decisions
Edith Brown Clement, Fifth Circuit
Judge Clement has joined troubling dissents from two important decisions by the full Fifth Circuit. In one, Judge Clement maintained that the scope of an important federal criminal law, the Hobbs Act, should be severely limited on “federalism” grounds. In the other, Clement voted to allow the unlawful firing of a public school teacher. Judge Clement also wrote the opinion in a 2-1 decision reversing a jury’s award of damages for pain and suffering of a mother and daughter killed in a grisly truck accident.

# United States v. McFarland, 311 F.3d 376 (5th Cir. 2002) (en banc), cert. denied, 123 S. Ct. 1749 (2003): constitutionality and scope of the Hobbs Act


more....
http://www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/default.aspx?oid=13514


Edited to correct title

[woodsprite]

1. Don't you just wonder where they dig these people up from? n/t

[mmonk]

4. The Federalist Society of course

gives them their qualifications.

[navvet]

2. If that is all they can find

it will not be near enough to derail her nominaiton.

I hope we do not descend into a slime pit looking to see if she blew her nose wrong or ties her shoes the wrong way.

It is beneath us, and I do not thing the public will buy it from us.

My read is that this will be a hard nomination to stop.

Just my 2 cents.

[hippiechick]

3. It's 'People For The American Way' ... btw ...

.. talk about a misnomer ...

[DFWdem]

5. How's this work?

"In the other, Clement voted to allow the unlawful firing of a public school teacher."

If a court rules it is NOT unlawful, how is it unlawful? I thought courts were supposed to rule on the legality of actions? That makes my head hurt.

[jsamuel]

6. They need to expound on that... confused me too

[expatriot]

8. Technically, she was in "dissent" of the court's majority opinion...

So the court found it to be unlawful but she voted to allow it.

[expatriot]

7. it's been reported in other threads she's made strong prochoice statements

.... there are links in those threads with those quotes.

Will this not truly piss off the freeper conservative base of the party? Hasn't this been what the pro-life/anti-choice freepers been waiting for for some 30 years? Isn't this why they worked so hard to get a conservative, god-fearing, pro-life President? I think this will upset them to say the least.

[Dr.Phool]

9. Choice is a red herring right now

The REAL agenda of the Federalist Society is a strange interpretation of the "takings clause" of the constitution. Under their theories, government doesn't have the authority to regulate shit.

According to them, if a power plant is forced to clean up it's emmissions, that constitutes an illegal taking of their profits. Vioxx could actually market itself as beneficial to the heart, and the FDA couldn't stop them.

It's about a lot more than abortion.

[DemFromMem]

10. Look to the right

I'd pay more attention to what the fringe right has to say about her especially since her record on the court is pretty thin. If they're not 100% happy and we're not 100% happy, we probably have an O'Connoresque judge we can all live with.