Newswire
Howard Dean Leads Democrats to Radicalism on Judges
By NewsWires
www.MichNews.com
Sep 28, 2005

Committee for Justice (CFJ) Co-Chairman Ronald A. Cass today responded to Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean's comments in the Washington Post about the next Supreme Court nomination:

"Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean has called on Democrats in the Senate to join him in a 'fight to the death' by filibustering the next nominee to the Supreme Court. Dean, who knows what it means to go down fighting, is asking his party faithful to throw out the constitutional structure followed for more than 200 years. Under the Constitution, the President nominates Supreme Court justices, and the Senate gives advice and consent. That means a vote, not a sit-down strike.

"Mr. Dean, who isn't President and isn't even a Senator, hasn't lost his famous scream – he warns his Senators that if they don't obstruct President Bush's choices, the Democrats can't expect to win elections. Senators should refuse to vote on nominees to get the support of the public? Mr. Dean needs a lesson in winning elections. News flash: President Bush told the American people what sort of justices he'd put on the Supreme Court; so did his Democrat opponent, John Kerry. And George Bush won.

"Nominating justices is the prerogative of the President, which – last time we checked – wasn't Howard Dean. The Senate's role is to give advice and consent after the President nominates a justice, not to threaten before and obstruct after."

Cass is dean emeritus of Boston University School of Law, and President of Cass & Associates, PC, a legal consultancy in Great Falls, VA. The Committee for Justice defends and promotes constitutionalist judicial nominees to the federal courts.

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