GOP Scores TKO in Fight Over Obama Court Nominee

While President Obama went on the road to break matzoh with Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu this week, his administration's judicial branch power game suffered a home field setback.

Caitlin Halligan
(photo: Washington Post)

The GOP won a significant victory this week, when Obama's candidate for the D.C. Circuit Court withdrew her nomination. The nominee, Caitlin Halligan, could not overcome the determined resistance of Republican senators, one of whom alleged she harbored opposition to gun manufacturers. Apparently, the gun lobby's animosity and Halligan's liberal political perspectives constituted sufficient reasons to torpedo a seasoned jurist who had clerked with Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer.

The D.C. Circuit Court is a big deal in the judicial branch's pecking order. According to the Los Angeles Times' report on Halligan's withdrawal, President Obama himself noted that "the D.C. Circuit is considered the nation's second-highest court..." Chief Justice John Roberts had served on that court. Many years ago, the Republicans shrewdly made their play to put a vise grip on the judicial system. While complaining about allegedly "activist" liberal jurists, the GOP put its soldiers into important posts such as the D.C. Circuit. As a consequence, conservative activists have stamped their perspectives on nearly all aspects of law. The rulings matter, and have ripple effects that remain, in some cases, for decades.

The timing of the Halligan withdrawal is not a coincidence. The president is out of the country. Saturday is the day bad news gets "managed." The Easter-Passover holidays are nearly upon us. For casual observers, the Halligan incident will pass with little comment or reflection. However, the insiders know the score. For better or worse, the Halligan defeat was a right-wing victory.

Sandra Day O'Connor Going Strong at 81

Chief Justice Warren Burger Swearing In Sandra Day O'Connor, 1981

For a long time, I thought that Supreme Court justices were similar to popes. Their confidence in the strength of their own arguments paralleled a belief in their own legal infallibility. They all seemed ancient, as pontiffs do. Popes don't retire; the Supremes typically don't, either.

The refreshing exception was Sandra Day O'Connor. She retired to take care of her ailing husband. Her legal perspective came from a rancher's life, unique for top-tier judges and elite attorneys. (By contrast, four Supreme Court justices spent their formative years in New York City.) She was also the first female Supreme Court justice, placed into nomination by conservative Ronald Reagan.

The Washington Post ran a feature on O'Connor, with the lead noting her recent visit to the National Cowgirl Museum in Fort Worth, Texas. It's a good story to read, and includes her controversial advocacy for electing judges versus appointing them.