A Republican president will probably be beholden to the right wing of his party, Strossen says.
Question: What would the Supreme Court look like if McCain is elected?
Nadine Strossen: I think that any Republican who is elected no matter what his or theoretically her own views would be is going to feel beholden to the right wing of the party in terms of judicial appointments, particularly the US Supreme Court and that has been the pattern in recent history. So, George Bush I, was I think by his own lights[Inaudible] not as extreme in his negative views of human rights or constitutionally enforceable rights and yet, he tried very hard running to the right, in the other sense of the word[Inaudible] right to appoint justices that he thought were going to cut back on for example reproductive freedom. It turned out that he was wrong in his predictions, but it was not by design. You may remember John Sununu, the father of the present senator from New Hampshire, said that David Souter was a home run for the anti-abortion movement. Well, that was not by Bush's design...I mean that was his design. It didn't prove to be prophetic. So, I think that any Republican would probably try to appoint justices who would provide the fifth vote to overturn Roe and a whole host of other cases that are protective of individual rights. With the Democrats, I think what we would get from either...from anybody who is elected...basically what we got from Bill Clinton. I think the legal director of the ACLU put it very well when he said Bill Clinton was a wishy washy liberal and the justices he appointed were... I have great respect for all of them...so I hope it doesn't sound disrespectful, but they were...the appointees of Bill Clinton were not the idealogical counterparts of the appointees by Bush and Regan. They are much more moderate, much more centrest and we don't have a forceful exponent across the board for individual liberties that we had in William Brennan or Thurgood Marshall or even Harry Blackman for that matter and it is ironic because if you know the Presidents who appointed those, all of the...with the exception of Marshall, the other two were appointed by Republican Presidents, but now it has become so politicized and I think the Democrats don't dare appoint somebody who is an outspoken defender of individual rights and the Republicans don't dare appoint somebody who is not an outspoken opponent.
Recorded On: 2/14/08
Question: What would the Supreme Court look like if McCain is elected?
Nadine Strossen: I think that any Republican who is elected no matter what his or theoretically her own views would be is going to feel beholden to the right wing of the party in terms of judicial appointments, particularly the US Supreme Court and that has been the pattern in recent history. So, George Bush I, was I think by his own lights[Inaudible] not as extreme in his negative views of human rights or constitutionally enforceable rights and yet, he tried very hard running to the right, in the other sense of the word[Inaudible] right to appoint justices that he thought were going to cut back on for example reproductive freedom. It turned out that he was wrong in his predictions, but it was not by design. You may remember John Sununu, the father of the present senator from New Hampshire, said that David Souter was a home run for the anti-abortion movement. Well, that was not by Bush's design...I mean that was his design. It didn't prove to be prophetic. So, I think that any Republican would probably try to appoint justices who would provide the fifth vote to overturn Roe and a whole host of other cases that are protective of individual rights. With the Democrats, I think what we would get from either...from anybody who is elected...basically what we got from Bill Clinton. I think the legal director of the ACLU put it very well when he said Bill Clinton was a wishy washy liberal and the justices he appointed were... I have great respect for all of them...so I hope it doesn't sound disrespectful, but they were...the appointees of Bill Clinton were not the idealogical counterparts of the appointees by Bush and Regan. They are much more moderate, much more centrest and we don't have a forceful exponent across the board for individual liberties that we had in William Brennan or Thurgood Marshall or even Harry Blackman for that matter and it is ironic because if you know the Presidents who appointed those, all of the...with the exception of Marshall, the other two were appointed by Republican Presidents, but now it has become so politicized and I think the Democrats don't dare appoint somebody who is an outspoken defender of individual rights and the Republicans don't dare appoint somebody who is not an outspoken opponent.
Recorded On: 2/14/08
