Flippety-flop: Giuliani as mayor appointed left-leaning judges; Dems outnumbered Republicans 8 to 1

[DeepModem Mom]

The Politico: Giuliani-Appointed Judges Tend to Lean to the Left
By: Ben Smith
February 28, 2007

When Rudy Giuliani faces Republicans concerned about his support of gay rights and legal abortion, he reassures them that he is a conservative on the decisions that matter most.

"I would want judges who are strict constructionists because I am," he told South Carolina Republicans last month. "Those are the kinds of justices I would appoint -- Scalia, Alito and Roberts."

But most of Giuliani's judicial appointments during his eight years as mayor of New York were hardly in the model of Chief Justice John Roberts or Samuel Alito -- much less aggressive conservatives in the mold of Antonin Scalia.

A Politico review of the 75 judges Giuliani appointed to three of New York state's lower courts found that Democrats outnumbered Republicans by more than 8 to 1. One of his appointments was an officer of the International Association of Lesbian and Gay Judges. Another ruled that the state law banning liquor sales on Sundays was unconstitutional because it was insufficiently secular.

A third, an abortion-rights supporter, later made it to the federal bench in part because New York Sen. Charles E. Schumer, a liberal Democrat, said he liked her ideology....

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0207/2957.html

[skipos]

1. I cant decide who is the biggest flip flopper, McCain, Rudy or Mitt. nt

[DeepModem Mom]

3. They should be in a flip-flopping competition! nt

[zbdent]

8. "Flip-side" McCain? Mitt Rommel? Rudy-Judy-Judy-Rudy?

[win_in_06]

2. I don't think he will do well at all in the republican primaries.

I think he will be seen by many as "too liberal"

[RBS]

4. These guys will say anything to get the nomination...

But the reality is that Giuliani is a RINO. He became a Republican in order to secure the nomination in NY vs. the Democratic political machine, which he was not a part of. But he also ran on the Liberal Party ticket, and supported gay rights, was pro-choice, and was a strong advocate for the rights of the children of illegal immigrants. His support of immigration, and against what he calls "the anti-immigration movement", will be very problematic for him.

My biggest issue with Giuliani is that he's a self-centered, self-serving jerk, who despite some of his more liberal views, was not averse to trampling on the rights of the homeless or less fortunate in order to lower crime rates in NYC, a phenomena more attributed to national trends and his Police Commissioners than to Rudy.

The bottom line for me, though, is that if he does get the nomination and wins, he will be alot more palatable than some of the other candidates on the Repub side.

[A Simple Game]

7. I agree with your bottom line 100%. We could, have, and are

doing much worse.

Your first and second paragraphs are also right on, I always felt that the crime rate had much more to do with national trends, employment, etc., and especially with Clinton's 100,000 cops initiative.

I hate to see all of the Rudy bashing now, save it for when he gets the nomination. Worse comes to worse, we get a Republican President that looks good in drag. Hey, things could be worse.

[WhaTHellsgoingonhere]

5. As I understand it...

...on MTP, a conservative panel member explained that Rudy can appeal to the far-right by saying how fond he is of Scalia, Alito, Roberts and Thomas, thus implying that he'd appoint conservative strict constructionists despite his personal views on abortion, gun control, etc..

[rkc3]

6. The mayor of NYC appoints state judges?

Isn't that the governor's job? Or the electorate's?

I'm not a NY resident, maybe I'm clueless - can someone clarify?

[sampsonblk]

9. So he appointed good judges...?

We lose on this argument just as much as Rudy does.

"Left" leaning judges are ones that support the Bill of Rights over property and financial interests. If he appointed "left" leaning judges, what he really did is side with the public. If anything, we should promote this as the one thing he got right.