Kyl: No Empathetic Justices!

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by David Safier

Our own Jon Kyl takes a bold stand against empathy.

Jon Kyl, the second-ranking Republican in the U.S. Senate, warned president-elect Barack Obama that he would filibuster U.S. Supreme Court appointments if those nominees were too liberal.
Kyl, Arizona’s junior senator, expects Obama to appoint judges in the mold of U.S Supreme Court Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, David Souter and Stephen Breyer. Those justices take a liberal view on cases related to social, law and order and business issues, Kyl said.
“He believes in justices that have empathy,” said Kyl, speaking at a Federalist Society meeting in Phoenix. The attorneys group promotes conservative legal principles.
Kyl said if Obama goes with empathetic judges who do not base their decisions on the rule of law and legal precedents but instead the factors in each case, he would try to block those picks via filibuster.

That's pretty frightening, the thought that we'll have a Supreme Court stacked with Justices like Ginsburg, Souter and Breyer.

Except, the most likely retirees will be Stevens, Ginsburg and Souter, with Breyer thrown in for good measure. So if Obama nominates people like them, we'll have, basically, the same Supreme Court we have now. The real fear was, if McCain won, he'd create a lopsided conservative Court that could last for decades.

Steve Benen at the Washington Monthly blog, Political Animal, notes a touch of hypocrisy in Kyl's "Filibuster the liberal bastards!" stance:

I'd add, by the way, that Kyl was one of the conservative Republicans who, in 2005, supported the "nuclear option," which would have declared that filibustering a judicial nominee was against congressional rules. That, of course, was when Bush nominees were in jeopardy.

Up or down vote, Jon, remember? Up or down vote.

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