Just say no to Gonzales.

The President has the sole power to nominate Justices for the Supreme Court. Following the retirement of Sandra O'Conner, President Bush will have the opportunity to nominate his first Supreme Court Justice. Rumors continue to swirl over who that will be. The White House has announced that no nominations will be made before the President returns from the G8 conference on July 8th. That means that we may get a nomination on the 8th itself, or shortly thereafter. However, there's no certainty that we'll get it then; the President has signaled that he intends to have the new Justice confirmed (if possible) and on the Court by the start of the next term, but that's still a ways off.

Rumors continue to swirl over who that nominee will be.

Many of those rumors are suggesting Alberto Gonzales.

This would be a disaster for conservatives in general, because they have long been salivating at the chance to overturn Roe v Wade, which Gonzales supports on a stare decisis basis. But it would also be a disaster for firearms rights, and it is on that basis that I oppose the nomination of Gonzales.

If the President nominates Gonzales, he will be opposed by many different conservative groups, and he may well not be confirmed, because he won't have the necessary support from conservatives to push against an almost-certain Democratic filibuster. If this happens, the Democrats will claim credit, and smell blood. Gonzales' failure would make it harder, not easier, to appoint a solid originalist to the Supreme Court.

We need to derail Gonzales before he even enters the confirmation process. We need to get the message to the President that Gonzales is not an acceptable nominee, not as an attack on Gonzales' character but as an acknowledgement that his judicial philosophy is not what this country needs to bring it back from the brink of a Constitutional crisis.

Some have speculated that Gonzales is a distraction, and is intended to be a distraction, from the real nominee. Maybe this is true. And maybe Gonzales will become the real nominee if we don't object hard enough. So, we need to tell the President that Gonzales is not acceptable. And we need to start telling him NOW, before he can get too set in his thoughts on the matter.

You can contact the President at president@whitehouse.gov or by calling 202-456-1111. If you're sending email, here's some sample text:

Mr. President,

Persistent rumors indicate that Alberto Gonzales is on your "short list" for the Supreme Court seats likely to open during this term of your Presidency. Conservatives have reacted strongly to Gonzales, and you have reacted even more strongly to those comments, stating that you don't like it when your friends are attacked.

No one likes that, Mr. President, but no one is attacking your friend Alberto Gonzales. What people are concerned about, and what I am personally concerned about, is appointing a reliable conservative or libertarian to the Supreme Court. Your Supreme Court appointees will have a long, hard task ahead of them to overcome 70 years of judicial failures and activist rulings. We must have judges on the Supreme Court that support the rule of law, and in America, that means the rule of the Constitution.

Mr. President, there are two important firearms cases likely to come before the Supreme Court shortly; Parker v DC and Seegars v Gonzales. While you have claimed to support gun owners and the 2nd Amendment, and accepted their support in your Presidential campaigns, you have also claimed to support the Assault Weapons Ban and that you would sign it, if presented to you. As a politician, Mr. President, this was your pragmatic decision. Alberto Gonzales, as Attorney General, has supported you in this decision.

Unfortunately, Mr. President, the Assault Weapons Ban is an unConstitutional violation of the 2nd Amendment. This is not a political decision, but a matter of law.

A political decision is a reasonable thing for an elected official, but it is entirely unacceptable in a Supreme Court justice. Justices must follow the law, regardless of how inconvenient it may be to do so. Striking down gun control laws that violate the 2nd Amendment is inconvenient, Mr. President, but it is the correct thing to do, and the necessary thing to do in order to restore a Constitutional government to these United States.

Alberto Gonzales, no matter how good a friend he may be, has chosen the path of the politician on that question, and that is not acceptable in a Supreme Court Justice.

Furthermore, Gonzales (in his official capacity) has been a named defendent in one of those cases. That could require him to recuse himself from that case, should it come before the Court. We cannot afford to lose a vote in that case, because such a loss would render in immutable stone the present unfavorable and misunderstood precedents concerning the 2nd Amendment.

There are many well-qualified candidates. I won't presume to suggest which you should choose. I will suggest that whichever nominee you put forward, he or she must support the 2nd Amendment.

Unfortunately, Alberto Gonzales has demonstrated that he will not be able to do so, and for that reason I urge you to look elsewhere.

Sincerely,

Please write in NOW. Don't wait.

UPDATE: Michelle Malkin has more on the Gonzales problem, and National Review on the recusal issue.

Posted on 2005-07-07 02:28:28.0 by matthew@triggerfinger.org

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Carnival of Cordite #21

by Resistance is futile!

Hello readers. Before we begin this week's Carnival of Cordite, I ask that we bow our heads in a moment of silence for the innocent victims of the cowardly attacks on London, attacks by barbaric terrorists. Let us never forget

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