An Addendum to My Post on Republican Attacks on Thurgood Marshall

I was asked by Cardianal44 in the comments to provide some of the details of the Republican attacks on Thurgood Marshall during Elena Kagan's confirmation hearings. That was a reasonable request, so here I go. The quotes from the Republican Senators come from a variety of sources, so I hope you will just trust that I didn't make them up:

"During the first day of Elena Kagan's Supreme Court confirmation hearings, a number of Republicans on the Senate Judiciary Committee took to attacking former Justice Thurgood Marshall, a civil rights hero. Kagan was a clerk for the former justice.

Several of the Republicans who brought up Marshall did so in a disparaging manner. Sen. Jeff Sessions tagged Marshall as "a well-known liberal activist judge," The Huffington Post reported.

"Justice Marshall's judicial philosophy," said Sen. Jon Kyl (Ariz.), the No. 2 Republican in the Senate, "is not what I would consider to be mainstream." Kyl was ready for a scrap. Marshall "might be the epitome of a results-oriented judge," he said.

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said Marshall's legal view "does not comport with the proper role of a judge or judicial method."

Orrin Hatch was asked by a Utah newspaper whether he would have voted to confirm Marshall, the court's first black justice, had he been in the Senate back in 1967. "Well, it's hard to say," Hatch replied.

" Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.) pronounced Marshall "a judicial activist" with a "judicial philosophy that concerns me."

All of which, of course, is nothing but the usual Republican cant- none bit of it has a shred of truth, as we all well know.

As the Republicans marshaled their anti-Marshall forces, staffers circulated to reporters details of the late justice's offenses: "Justice Marshall endorsed 'judicial activism,' supported abortion rights, and believed the death penalty was unconstitutional."

This attack was clearly organized in advance. There you go- organized, open racism from what claims to be one of our two major political parties.

Comments

cardinal44 said…
Ah, but Thomas and Alito are, no doubt, paragons of judicial integrity upholding the true intent of the our founding fathers...

thanks GE.
cardinal44 said…
sorry, should have read: the constitution and our founding fathers...
Derek said…
I know you get mad when I ask you questions, but how is this racist? It seems to me that they were attack Marshall because of his judicial activism. Judges should be impartial, looking only at the law, not ruling from the bench (though many liberals believe this to be perfectly fine).
Leslie Parsley said…
In light of the recent decisions by SCOTUS, the Republicans have absolutely no right to accuse anyone of being an activitist judge. Next they'll accuse Marshall of being corrupt. That will really be a hoot. I can smell that hypocricy all the way down here.

Politics Plus is examining all the Amendments and Articles of the Constitution over several posts. It's an excellent series and very educational. We can all benefit from it.

http://www.politicsplus.org/blog/
Green Eagle said…
Of course they have no right to do this. Their own corrupt Supreme Court sleeper agents have been destroying the constitution as fast as they can, with their greatest hits the appointment of the unelected dictator Bush, and the ruling allowing corporations to openly destroy democracy.

Not that anyone in the "liberal press" is going to notice.
Green Eagle said…
And Derek, you are either naive or disingenuous beyond comprehension.
Thanks for the intelligent and eloquent response GE.

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