Jeff Toobin: McCain Getting Supreme Court Advice From "The Most Extreme Elements Of The Conservative Movement"

Jeff Toobin discusses what a John McCain presidency could mean about the future of the judiciary. Below is a telling excerpt from The New Yorker article.

The question, as always with McCain these days, is whether he means it. Might he really be a "maverick" when it comes to the Supreme Court? The answer, almost certainly, is no. The Senator has long touted his opposition to Roe, and has voted for every one of Bush's judicial appointments; the rhetoric of his speech shows that he is getting his advice on the Court from the most extreme elements of the conservative movement. With the general election in mind, McCain had to express himself with such elaborate circumlocution because he knows that the constituency for such far-reaching change in our constellation of rights is small, and may be shrinking. In 2004, to stoke turnout among conservatives, Karl Rove engineered the addition of anti-gay-marriage voter initiatives to the ballots in Ohio and other states; last week, though, when the California Supreme Court voted to allow gay marriage in that state, only hard-core activists were able to muster much outrage. When it comes to the Constitution, McCain is on the wrong side of the voters, and of history; thus, his obfuscations.

Comments

[javagirl322]

Mr. Toobin, thanks for the heads up. . . . McCain will do ANYTHING to occupy that Oval Office.... including, but not limited to taking council from the most extreme "justices" on the "supreme" court. There should be a law against this...

[iheardthisbefore]

first move dems need to make after they take their new slots in congress, led by the new prez
is to expand the Supremes to the full eleven and seat appropriate minded to the court...
this is the ONLY way to insure a stop to the further loss of our rights as citizens of this
great country....
is it november yet?

[lobear00]

The Dems take the White House, Then take all the powers Bush bestowed upon himself, turn the tables on the bush Administration, round them up along with those members of the supreme court and all their little minions, send them all to "GITMO for Orientation, then to the Hague, for trial, then on to Russia where they live the rest of their lives in "Bliss" not to be heard of again.
"Wishful Thinking...

[comebackid]

What needs to change is we the people need control over the supreme court instead of the other way around.

When the founding fathers made the supreme untouchable it was for a reason. That was before predatory capitalism became ownership of our government. It is also called fascism. Things have changed now we need to change the way we view the SCOTUS.

Scalia, Alito, and Roberts are the worst and they've already proven their fondness for corporate control in our government. Alito and Roberts were nominated by the worst and most criminal president in history yet we have no recourse! The very Senate that confirmed them are pocket change in today's mega-corporate world.

I'm very upset! I want control of my country back! The SCOTUS are the heavyweights The corporations go to for rulings that leaves them and their judicial friends untouchable.

I once Saw what amounted to a 60 minute commercial on c-span where three supremes spent the whole hour trying to convince us that they are incorruptible. About how the IRS watches their every move. What are we stupid? We don't know about offshore accounts? How a corporation can own a 125 foot yacht or a Swill chalet and let someone else keep the keys. Good grief I believe they either think we are stupid or it is in you face corruption and they don't care?

[BrighterStar]

Only a person who has never read a Thomas or Scalia opinion could have written this comment. It is Thomas and Scalia that want to limit the authority of the justices.

[comebackid]

A contraire my neocon advisary! If they truly wish to limit authority, why do they execise so much themselves?

[comebackid]

I have bridge for sale, interested?

[dsbsh]

Scalia and Thomas want to limit judges to what THEY believe the Constitution means. With maybe 1-2 exceptions (for Scalia, never for Thomas), the document is 100% consistent with their arch-conservative ideology. What's more, it's based on a static reading of the Constitution that the framers themselves rejected and the document itself defies. The best response to their "strict construction" approach was written by Chief Justice Marshall in Gibbons v. Ogden 180 years ago.

[springsm]

Well he has to get advice, he is too intelligently challenged to do his own thinking. But are these the same folks who called the sensible Judges...activitst judges. As if the extreme fundy right Supreme Justices are NOT. Gawd...when is this crap gonna stop.

[slobone]

Yes, and Justice Kennedy, the "swing vote", is 86. So there's not much doubt that McCain will engineer a hard right majority that will last for a generation. The only hope is if a Democratic majority in the Senate shows enough cojones to reject his nominees. But they can only do that for so long...

[KeysDan]

Justice Anthony Kennedy was born in July 1936 (72 years of age). Justice John Paul Stevens was born in January 1920 (88 years old) and, at the oldest, is a national treasure. But slobone is correct, the Supreme Court is aging and the next president will shape jurisprudence for many decades--Justices Ginsberg, Souter, Breyer, and Scalia (no concern here, replacement with a fireplug would be an improvement) are all near or over age 70.

[ejay579]

What these religious fundamentalist boobs do not realize that in addition to terminating a pregnancy, the right to start one will also be in jeopardy. For the Supreme Court has not only held that a woman has a right to terminate a pregnancy, it has also held that it is the right of all Americans to procreate.

[JimLarkin]

2 august members of scotus chose to abstain from the most important vote ever brought before it's body....how can we show them our scorn?

[in4success]

john hagees' armageddonites over at CUFI believe that we must go to war with iran in order to expedite the second coming of christ and the "rapture" and all jews will have to accept jesus christ as their savior and messiah or endure: "THE MOTHER OF ALL HOLOCAUSTS." although judaism inherently disbelieves such nonsense the zionists embrace these pro-israel christians -- joe lieberman even compares the pudgy little gluttonous sinner hagee to moses and calls him a: "EESH ELO KIM" which is hebrew for "MAN OF GOD." these armageddonite whackos are VIPs at the AIPAC conferences, benjamin netanyahu speaks at the CUFI conferences and john mccain solicited hagee's endorsement for his presidential bid.

every american should watch these vids to get a grip on how dangerously twisted these cultist freaks are and and what torrid and shameful pandering is bestowed upon them by some of our worlds most powerful leaders and dignitaries: http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/03072008/watch.html and: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/max-blumenthal/rapture-ready-the-unauth_b_57826.html

please take the time to inform yourselves . . . this is our path to victory in 2008. Spread the link and bring awareness to this sick, twisted, horrific anti-American fascist ideology and agenda.

We do not need these people controlling the most powerful position in the free world -- it would be to our certain peril as a free nation.

[SpaceCadet]

It's not just gays and Catholics that Hagee has slandered. He also blames the Holocaust on the Jews for not leaving Europe and going to Palestine to help the Zionists found the Israeli state. Hitler was his agent of punishment. Talk2Action had a scary audio recording of Hagee making this vile argument back in the '90s. Here's another quote of Hagee on the subject of Jews froom Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hagee

"It was the disobedience and rebellion of the Jews, God's chosen people, to their covenantal responsibility to serve only the one true God, Jehovah, that gave rise to the opposition and persecution that they experienced beginning in Canaan and continuing to this very day... Their own rebellion had birthed the seed of antisemitism that would arise and bring destruction to them for centuries to come.... it rises from the judgment of God upon his rebellious chosen people."

This is from a book Hagee wrote. I wonder if McCain has read it, and whether he's going to use it as a blueprint for his agenda as president.

[zizyphus]

In a McCain America, we would be forced to watch commercials for Viagra every ten minutes, while otherwise healthy women die for want of safe medical procedures.

In McCain's twisted vision of America, all women and girls would be forced to give birth to monsters, forced to give birth to rapists' spawn, forced to give birth to their their own siblings.

[in4success]

straight talk? really?

riiiiiiiight: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEtZlR3zp4c&eurl=http://dailykos.com/

[zendem1]

Funny how they all want the government out of everything..Well, almost everything..

[bujeeboo]

I hope all you Hillary people are paying attention.

[in4success]

you realize they do not care, right? it's all about girl power, damn the torpedoes!

[oogabooga]

Why does McCain hate Catholics? That's an awful lot of people in this country to hate.

[TamysDMilo]

McCain has such praise for Justice John Roberts, that he should really consider him as the Republican Vice Presidential candidate. After McCain's association with anti-Catholic preacher John Hagee, Roberts staunch Catholicism would certainly help McCain shore up his standing with Catholic. And because Roberts has distinguished himself as one of the most political Chief Justices in history, the idea of joining the Executive Branch might hold greater opportunity for his aspirations of creating a nation which reflect his beliefs, especially if he judges McCain likely to expire during his term.

[tsloan]

if this doesn't scare the public....nothing will