Y'know, seems to me ANY nominee that Bush could LIVE WITH is going to be attacked by the left! It doesn't seem to matter whether the nominee is qualified. The only qualification that matters to these guys is that any "non-controversial" nominee be committed to advancing the liberal agenda! Otherwise, they're persona-non-grata.

Let's remember the Constitution, which the judges, the President and Congress ALL swear to uphold, grants to the President the right and responsibility to name someone to fill vacancies in the judiciary. It's a privilege of the office, and is a consideration for the voting public when it comes time to elect a president. The voting public spoke in November. Sorry, the left lost.

Constitutionally, the role of the Senate in these judicial nominations is advise and consent... not obstruct. Ever since Bork, the left has used "Borking" a nominee as the weapon of choice to keep any but "moderate" (read: liberal) judges from appointments of consequence. If they can't create a public backlash against a nominee by slandering and smearing... they simply use procedures and rules to insure the nominee never comes up for a vote.

I would propose a rule change -- if not a constitutional amendment -- to require a 14 day limit on debate before an up or down vote is given to any and every judicial nominee henceforth, regardless of the occupant of the White House! If there is adequate REAL reason to reject a nominee, 2 weeks of questioning and debate is adequate time to make that case... and history will show that Republicans are far more willing to reject an errant Republican than Democrats are willing to even diminish their lock-step support of one of their own... regardless of circumstances.

Give Roberts a fair hearing. Then a fair vote.

Copyright © 2005 by Doug Edelman

Doug Edelman is a conservative political commentator by avocation and passion, based in the western suburbs of St. Louis, MO. For the support of his family,however, he is also an IT Consultant/Contractor and owner of a Computer Services Business. He has taught PC Maintenance & Repair and Networking at his local Community College, and maintains a blog at http://edeldoug.blogs.com/. Contact him at doug@pc-fixer-stl.com.