Two National Review Bench Memos posted after the election results show that the election of Obama instead of McCain did NOT reflect a national lurch to the left, but a hope that the next president will govern from the center.
Ed Whelan, President of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, celebrated the passage of Proposition 8 in California, a message to Obama that even in very liberal California, where Obama won overwhelmingly, traditional values still prevail.
Mr. Whelan:
"Bench Memos readers are probably already aware of this, but in case anyone has missed it, I’ll point out the good news that California voters passed Proposition 8, which enshrines traditional marriage in the state constitution and overrides the state supreme court’s terrible decision from last May that concocted a right to same-sex marriage. With a small number of votes still to count, the tally here as I write this is 52.5% yes, 47.5% no.
"It’s good to see that California chief justice Ronald George and his fellow miscreants—associate justices Joyce L. Kennard, Carlos R. Moreno, and Kathryn Mickle Werdegar—have been thwarted in their lawless activism."
Amen!
Wendy Long, counsel to the Judicial Confirmation Network, found state court results to be the election's "silver lining."
Mrs. Long:
"Anyone looking for a silver lining in this election cycle should consider the ringing endorsement for the principle of judicial restraint among the millions of voters who actually cast a ballot.
"In Ohio, where a Democratic tide favored judges with activist tendencies, the restrained incumbent Justices O'Connor and Stratton won landslide victories.
"In Louisiana, despite an extremely well funded trial lawyer effort, Judge Greg Guidry beat back Judge Jimmy Kuhn in a remarkable 59-41% win to flip Lousiana's supreme court in the direction of restraint.
"In Texas all three Supreme Court incumbents were re-elected despite massive late expenditures by the trial bar.
"In Alabama, where one of the nation's preeminent Supreme Court judges, Harold See, retired, it looks like Judge Greg Shaw will narrowly defeat trial attorney favorite Judge Deborah Paseur.
"In Mississippi, restrained Justice Ann Lamar and restrained Judge Randy Pierce both won, while incumbent Jim Smith lost to the popular former prosecutor Jim Kitchens.
"The worst news of the night was from Michigan. Chief Justice Cliff Taylor could not withstand a barrage of extremely dishonest last minute ads by the Democratic Party that earlier this year tried to take over the state through the much talked about Reform Michigan Government Now proposal. The 16-point Obama landslide helped Judge Diana Hathaway put the final nail in Taylor's bid for re-election.
"Overall, it was a strong night for state courts, confirming what internal polling has long shown: Americans strongly prefer judges who practice judicial restraint and resist the temptation to rule based on 'empathy' or other passions — that is, to legislate from the bench.
"Last night's election results must not be misinterpreted as a mandate for judicial activism in our courts. The principles of constitutionally limited government have been a hallmark of our system since our Founding. These results prove that those principles, far from being abandoned, enjoy broad support among the American people."
Unfortunately, the United States Supreme Court's judicial activists will have ample opportunity to retire and thereby permit Obama to replace them with much younger judicial activists.
Obama is virtually certain to put judicial activists on the United States Supreme Court if the opportunity is presented and to put many of them federal appellate and district court benches, UNLESS the people insist that he govern as a moderate instead of the most liberal United States Senator and a person who voted against the confirmation of Chief Justice John Roberts and even voted to deny Justice Samuel A. Alito, Jr. an up-or-down vote of his nomination to the United States Supreme Court.
Having been elected by posing as moderate in the general election after running to the left of Hillary Rodham Clinton in the race for the 2008 Democrat presidential nomination, will Obama govern as a Far Leftist or a centrist?
It's up to the people to let the President Elect know what they want, because he wants to be re-elected.
