Monday, July 13, 2009

Richard Viguerie: All Issues at Sotomayor Confirmation Hearings Boil Down To One

(Manassas, Virginia) The following is a statement by Richard A. Viguerie, Chairman of ConservativeHQ.com, concerning the Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearings for President Obama's Supreme Court nominee, Judge Sonia Sotomayor:


"Some Republican senators are finally hinting at the one issue that could dominate and make uniquely historic the Sotomayor hearings. As longtime Chicago-way Obama advisor David Axelrod said in a May 26, 2009 interview, the President nominated Sotomayor because 'he wanted someone whose philosophy of judging was his,' which was to 'adapt' - meaning change - 'constitutional principles and law.'


"That is a shocking admission of Obama's views, which go beyond judicial activism and undermine our constitutional structure based in separation of limited, enumerated powers.


"Judge Sotomayor's rulings, whether dealing with the 1st Amendment, 2nd Amendment, private property rights, criminal law, use of foreign law, race, equal protection, and other areas of law, demonstrate that she is consistently 'empathetic' in favor of government power.


"In her speeches, Sotomayor has said policy is made by the courts, which affirms her view shared with Obama that judges may and should make law. That, however, usurps the powers of the people's elected representatives.


"All senators have a serious, constitutional obligation to the American people to explore in great detail such a dangerous and radical view of judicial power, especially for Obama's first Supreme Court nominee.


"President Obama is a statist. The real debate is no longer whether he is a socialist, but whether his ideology is authoritarian. The views of judicial power shared by Obama and Sotomayor are inconsistent with the Constitution itself, and that should disqualify this nominee for the highest and in some cases last forum to protect individual rights and prevent authoritarian government, which America's founders feared.


"These hearings are an opportunity for Republicans to define Obama, which they and John McCain's campaign failed to do in the 2008 election."


NOTE TO EDITORS: Richard A. Viguerie pioneered political direct mail and has been called "one of the creators of the modern conservative movement" (The Nation magazine) and one of the "conservatives of the century" (The Washington Times).

The Money Masters (DVD) How Banks Create the World's Money

By Bill Still and Pat Carmack


This comprehensive, 3-1/2 hour, fast-paced historical documentary throws back the veil of deceit hiding the origins and operations of the corrupt banking plutocracy that owns and rules America and is gradually and clandestinely imposing a worldwide tyranny on the rest of us.


In 1913, President Woodrow Wilson approved the Federal Reserve Act. A few years later, he reflected:


"I am a most unhappy man. I have unwittingly ruined my country. A great industrial nation is controlled by its system of credit. Our system of credit is concentrated. The growth of the nation, therefore, and all our activities are in the hands of a few men. We have come to be one of the worst ruled, one of the most completely controlled and dominated governments in the civilized world -- no longer a government by free opinion, no longer a government by conviction and the vote of the majority, but a government by the opinion and duress of a small group of dominant men."


A century before Thomas Jefferson reflected much the same sentiment:


"If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks....will deprive the people of all property until their children wakeup homeless on the continent their fathers conquered....The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs."


This riveting DVD documentary covers the history of monetary reform from Roman Times to the present. It is packed with brilliant quotations and is absolutely the best production on the Federal Reserve available. Presented in layman's terms that the average person can comprehend, this set even includes a 16 page booklet containing the Monetary Reform Act.


"Outstanding! The best video yet on the history of the Federal Reserve and the mysterious disappearance of America's gold reserves. Fast-paced and riveting."


--Robert Caroll, Humane World Community, Inc.

Get your "Money Masters" set today and find out the full story of the Fed and the true nature of the U.S. monetary system.


NOTE: Purchasing "The Money Masters" from WND's online store also qualifies you to receive three FREE issues of WND's acclaimed monthly print magazine, Whistleblower. Watch for the FREE offer during checkout.

Parties Set to Paint Opposing Pictures of Nominee

Democrats Will Describe Judge as a Meticulous Workhorse While Republicans Cite Controversial Decisions, Remarks

By JESS BRAVIN

WASHINGTON -- Two different images of Sonia Sotomayor will emerge from the Supreme Court nominee's confirmation hearings that begin Monday.


Democrats, focusing on her 17-year record as a federal judge, will portray the nominee as a meticulous judicial workhorse, impartially applying the law, even as her rise from the projects marks her as a quintessential American story.


"It's somewhat odd that three of the biggest constitutional cases she decided were the most truncated opinions that you can almost imagine," said Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, the Senate Judiciary Committee's ranking Republican.


Democrats plan to shift the debate to Judge Sotomayor's experience. A host of mostly liberal interest groups and researchers have been issuing reports on Judge Sotomayor's courtroom record, which they say dispel suggestions she is a judicial radical.


Her supporters got a boost from a 55-page report from the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service, an arm of the Library of Congress. Sotomayor opinions "belie easy categorization along any ideological spectrum" and seem to reflect "careful application of particular facts at issue," along with a disinclination to overstep the court's "judicial role," researchers found.


The Brennan Center for Justice, a liberal advocacy program at New York University's law school, said its researchers analyzed 1,194 cases to see if Judge Sotomayor differed from her colleagues on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, overturned a legislative or executive action or deferred to a lower court or agency decision. She voted with the majority in 98.2% of constitutional cases, the center said.


On the federal district court from 1992 to 1998, Judge Sotomayor was more likely than other judges to send criminal defendants to prison, according to a Syracuse University research center. It reviewed 7,750 criminal prosecutions in the Southern District of New York, and found "she was notably tougher in her sentencing of white-collar criminals than was typical in this district."


Sen. Charles Schumer (D., N.Y.) issued a report showing Judge Sotomayor ruled against 83% of immigrants seeking asylum -- about the same as the Second Circuit overall.


"There's no better way to predict how a judicial nominee will perform on the bench than by their previous judicial records," Mr. Schumer said.


Conservatives, for the most part, don't dispute the statistics, but aren't surprised Judge Sotomayor's decisions accord with other judges. They say most appellate-court opinions are controlled by precedent, while the Supreme Court can overrule prior cases.


Criticism of the nominee "is not based on how she ruled, it's based on what she said," said Curt Levey, president of the Committee for Justice.


A Senate Democratic aide dismissed the idea that Judge Sotomayor has been concealing radical objectives. "It's hard to believe she was lying in wait just so she could save them up until she was on the Supreme Court," the aide said.


Mr. Levey, however, said the notion is not so far-fetched. "She's known for more than 10 years that she's being considered for the Supreme Court, so to some extent she's been on her best behavior," he said.


Write to Jess Bravin at jess.bravin@wsj.com