Wednesday, July 27, 2005
Leahy, Downies Caught Being Idiots Once Again
Now that President Bush has named Judge John Roberts, Jr., to be an Associate Justice on the US Supreme Court, the Downies on Capitol Hill (forget the sicko leftists around the country) are using every excuse to try to undermine Roberts. "We want tax documents!" yell the Downies. "We want to see Solicitor General documents!" yell the Downies. "We want to see Mrs. Roberts' underwear!" yell the Downies.
Okay, they don't want Mrs. Roberts' underwear, at least not yet. But they do want to see documents when Roberts served in the Solicitor General's office under Attorney General William French Smith. The Bush administration says that these documents are covered by attorney-client privilege...and guess what? Former Solicitors General, half from Downie administrations, agree with President Bush:
Ex-solicitors general weigh in on Estrada probe
This was done by Downies to scuttle the nomination of Miguel Estrada to the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit. Now they are trying it again. Senator Leahy, asshole that he is (he's from Vermont, home of Jim Jeffords AND Howard Dean), continues to argue otherwise.
Are Downies just stupid? Or do they wake up every morning intending to lie their way through the day?
Now that President Bush has named Judge John Roberts, Jr., to be an Associate Justice on the US Supreme Court, the Downies on Capitol Hill (forget the sicko leftists around the country) are using every excuse to try to undermine Roberts. "We want tax documents!" yell the Downies. "We want to see Solicitor General documents!" yell the Downies. "We want to see Mrs. Roberts' underwear!" yell the Downies.
Okay, they don't want Mrs. Roberts' underwear, at least not yet. But they do want to see documents when Roberts served in the Solicitor General's office under Attorney General William French Smith. The Bush administration says that these documents are covered by attorney-client privilege...and guess what? Former Solicitors General, half from Downie administrations, agree with President Bush:
Ex-solicitors general weigh in on Estrada probe
All seven former solicitors general of the United States signed a letter to Sen. Patrick Leahy Tuesday urging him to drop his request for confidential documents in his probe of judicial nominee Miguel Estrada.
Leahy, D-Vermont, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee which considers the nominations of federal judges, has demanded Justice Department documents containing the internal recommendations made by Estrada when he served in the solicitor general's office during Janet Reno's tenure as Attorney General.
[...]
Three of the solicitors general served under Democratic administrations, four under Republican presidents.
"Any attempt to intrude into the Office's highly privileged deliberations would come at the cost of the Solicitor General's ability to defend vigorously the United States' litigation interests -- a cost that also would be borne by Congress itself," the former officials said in a copy of the letter obtained by CNN,.
The Justice Department's solicitor general decides when and how to appeal cases on behalf of the government, and represents the interests of the entire government including both the Executive Branch and the Congress in federal courts.
"Although we profoundly respect the Senate's duty to evaluate Mr. Estrada's fitness for the federal judiciary, we do not think that the confidentiality and integrity of internal deliberations should be sacrificed in the process," the letter concluded.
[...]
The letter was written by Seth Waxman, the last of three solicitors general under the Clinton administration. The letter was sent on behalf of Waxman, Walter Dellinger, and Drew Days of the Clinton administration; Kenneth Starr from the George H.W. Bush administration; Charles Fried who served under Ronald Reagan; Robert Bork who also served under Reagan; and Archibald Cox who served under President John F. Kennedy.
This was done by Downies to scuttle the nomination of Miguel Estrada to the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit. Now they are trying it again. Senator Leahy, asshole that he is (he's from Vermont, home of Jim Jeffords AND Howard Dean), continues to argue otherwise.
Are Downies just stupid? Or do they wake up every morning intending to lie their way through the day?
