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McCain says he'll appoint conservative judges

BY TOM BRUNE | tom.brune@newsday.com

May 7, 2008

WASHINGTON - John McCain made a play to the GOP's right wing yesterday, vowing to appoint conservative judges like Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. and Justice Samuel Alito and blasting Democratic rivals Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton for voting against them.

In a speech his campaign billed as a major address on the judiciary, McCain delivered a harsh critique of "judicial activists" who over step their Constitutional bounds. He also lambasted Democrats for blocking GOP nominees to the bench by turning the confirmation process into a "gauntlet of abuse."

McCain said the difference between the parties on the courts is a defining issue for the November election. Experts expect as many as two to four vacancies on the Supreme Court, and who fills them could shift the court to the right or left for a generation.

McCain set out his own standards for his judicial picks. "I will look for accomplished men and women with a proven record of excellence in the law, and a proven commitment to judicial restraint," he said.

As models, McCain named Roberts and Alito, both solid conservative votes on rulings, and the late Chief Justice William Rehnquist, an Arizona native and for years the most conservative member of the court.

That's in contrast to the type of judges both Obama and Clinton have said they would nominate - jurists who would uphold civil rights, privacy and other social issues opposed by conservatives. McCain attacked both Democrats, but singled out Obama for his sharpest critique, suggesting Obama sounded like a "judicial activist" himself in defending his no vote on Roberts.

With the speech, McCain sought to reach out to conservatives wary of his self-styled "maverick" departures from GOP orthodoxy on some issues. But he also sought to draw attention during the close and heated Democratic primaries in Indiana and North Carolina, speaking at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C.

"The purpose of the speech was to solidify his standing with social conservatives," said judiciary expert Jeffrey Segal, a political-science professor at Stony Brook University. "He gave them everything they wanted to hear."

The reaction to McCain's speech broke along the same partisan lines that have clouded the judicial nomination and confirmation process.

Curt Levey, of the conservative Committee for Justice, created to advocate for the Bush administration's judicial nominees, called the speech "one of the best we've heard."

Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee that oversees judicial nominations, charged McCain "chose to pander to those on the far right." The campaigns of both Obama and Clinton echoed that attack.

Since conservative jurists have ruled against McCain's trademark campaign finance reform as a violation of free speech, McCain could find it difficult should he become president to find a conservative Supreme Court nominee who wouldn't do the same, Segal said.

Segal also said McCain hit a false note by citing a landmark eminent domain case as an example of judicial activism. In that case, a local board tagged private property for public use, but then turned it over to a private developer. The court sided with the board, prompting an outcry.

But Segal said the court was showing restraint by leaving the decision to the local board.

McCain also stumbled in his speech, mistakenly saying he was glad to be in West Virginia, before correcting himself.