November 18th, 2009, Fairfax, VA—Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson today condemned 10 Republican Senators for voting to invoke cloture on Barack Obama’s controversial nomination of Judge David Hamilton to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals.
“These 10 Republican Senators have cleared the way for the confirmation of David Hamilton, who has used his seat as District Court Judge to suppress religious freedom, protect child predators, and rule leniently against career criminals,” said Wilson.
“These 10 Senators are out of step with the American people, who believe in the rule of law and do not want laws ignored by ACLU factotums who legislate from the bench,” Wilson added. “America is a society of laws, and David Hamilton, who represents the judicial oligarchy in America that rules by fiat, will help bring an end to the rule of law.”
Yesterday, the Senate voted 70-29 to invoke cloture on Hamilton, making a confirmation vote all but certain. Voting with Senate Democrats were Senators Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, Saxby Chambliss of Georgia, Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe of Maine, John Cornyn of Texas, Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, Orrin Hatch of Utah, Richard Lugar of Indiana, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and John Thune of South Dakota.
A coalition letter from 24 conservative leaders that Wilson signed to the Senate urged all members to filibuster Hamilton. The letter stated that “Judge Hamilton fails to meet the qualifications for the high office to which he has been nominated, and his record demonstrates that he would decide cases on the basis of his politics and personal agenda instead of the Constitution.”
According to the letter, Judge Hamilton has ruled “that prayers to Jesus Christ offered at the beginning of legislative sessions violate the Constitution, but that prayers to Allah do not”, chose to follow mandatory sentencing guidelines, overturned a sex offender registry law, and had “urged the President to grant clemency for a police officer who had pled guilty to producing child pornography”.
The coalition letter said Hamilton’s record working for the American Civil Liberties Union and as a fundraiser for ACORN “was not enough to qualify him for the lower court and nothing in his record on that court suggests he is qualified for a promotion.” When originally nominated to the U.S. District Court by President Clinton, Hamilton was rated “not qualified” by the American Bar Association.
In a recent speech to the Federalist Society, Senator Jeff Sessions, who led the filibuster effort against Hamilton in the Senate, quoted Hamilton as saying a judge’s job is to “write footnotes to the Constitution” and has argued that judges “need to empathize” with the parties of cases.
“Every election cycle,” Wilson said, “Republican candidates for Senate state their commitment to bringing judges to the federal bench who will help restore the role of constitutionally limited government in American jurisprudence. Instead, Republican and conservative constituents have been betrayed by their own Senators.”
“Why should anyone care if there is ever a Republican majority again if this is the type of vote Republican Senators cast?” Wilson asked, citing a recent Rasmussen Reports poll that stated, “74% of Republicans say their party’s representatives in Congress have lost touch with GOP voters nationwide over the past several years.”
“Actions have consequences,” Wilson added, concluding, “And one result of this action will be to further separate the GOP from its own base—74 percent of whom already say their leadership in Congress is out of touch.”
Interview Availability: Please contact Alex Rosenwald at (703)383-0880 or at arosenwald@getliberty.org to arrange an interview with ALG President Bill Wilson.
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