home

Judge Vaughn Walker: "Conservative Jurist, With An Independent Streak"

By Big Tent Democrat, Section Media
Posted on Fri Aug 06, 2010 at 01:23:13 PM EST
Tags: (all tags)
Share This: Digg! StumbleUpon del.icio.us reddit reddit

I love this New York Times headline:

Man in the News | Vaughn R. Walker Conservative Jurist, With Independent Streak

What does that mean ? (Maybe this? "President Ronald Reagan nominated him to the federal bench in 1987, but the nomination languished for nearly two years and he was confirmed during the first Bush administration.") Your guess is as good as mine, but he should be David Broder's favorite judge. Good job by the NYTimes headline writer. The Wingnut head explosion must be immense on this one.

Speaking for me only

< Friday Morning Open Thread | New U.S. Attorney For Colorado Confirmed >

  • The Online Magazine with Liberal coverage of crime-related political and injustice news

  • Contribute To TalkLeft


    • Display: Sort:
    Judge Vaughn Walker: "Conservative Jurist, With An Independent Streak" | 26 comments (26 topical)

    Readers Must Login or Create an Account to Comment

    Explosion would have been bigger if the (5.00 / 1) (#1)
    by steviez314 on Fri Aug 06, 2010 at 01:32:38 PM EST
    headline had included the word "activist" somehow.

    the right has been strangely silent (5.00 / 0) (#2)
    by Capt Howdy on Fri Aug 06, 2010 at 01:35:51 PM EST
    I posted a link to a Maddow segment in the open that talks about why that might be.  I thought it was interesting.
    Could it be that (5.00 / 1) (#4)
    by MKS on Fri Aug 06, 2010 at 01:54:18 PM EST
    wingers know they are losing the fight over gay marriage....and are just attempting to delay what they know is the inevitable?  

    After awhile it gets hard to fight a fight you know you are losing....

    Someday, they will probably co-copt gay rights just as they have civil rights, saying the Republicans were always for it.....That's okay--that would show how settled the issue had become.  

    Parent

    they made a pretty (none / 0) (#6)
    by Capt Howdy on Fri Aug 06, 2010 at 01:59:04 PM EST
    rational case that the social conservatives are being marginalized because neither the establishment conservatives, who hate them, or the teabaggers, who are mostly economic conservatives and dont share their fear of homos necessarily and are running things now, really care about this issue and consider it a distraction.

    something they share with the president.

    Parent

    Obama has put two women (none / 0) (#7)
    by MKS on Fri Aug 06, 2010 at 02:10:23 PM EST
    on the Supreme Court who will probably vote in favor of gay marriage.  It is hard to overstate the importance of that....

    If we had another pair like Roberts and Alito, where would we be?

    Parent

    oh (none / 0) (#8)
    by Capt Howdy on Fri Aug 06, 2010 at 02:12:15 PM EST
    I am not arguing that.  but they have said repeatedly that they see this as a distraction from "their agenda"

    Parent
    No, no (5.00 / 1) (#10)
    by jbindc on Fri Aug 06, 2010 at 02:16:51 PM EST
    Maggie Gallagher had an op-ed in the SF Chronicle the day after the ruling.  Read the whole thing at your peril, but here's my favorite part:

    Judge Walker's ruling proves, however, that the American people were and are right to fear that too many powerful judges do not respect their views, or the proper limits of judicial authority. Did our Founding Fathers really create a right to gay marriage in the U.S. Constitution? It is hard for anyone reading the text or history of the 14th Amendment to make that claim with a straight face, no matter how many highly credentialed and brilliant so-called legal experts say otherwise.

    Funny, Maggie - I don't see that our Founding Fathers created ANY right to marriage in the Constitution, but hey - I only got "Bs" in Con Law I and II, sp maybe I missed it somewhere.

    I think she skimmed the ruling, at best. (none / 0) (#12)
    by ellengrace on Fri Aug 06, 2010 at 02:20:56 PM EST
    My personal favorite?


    If this ruling is upheld, millions of Americans will face for the first time a legal system that is committed to the view that our deeply held moral views on sex and marriage are unacceptable in the public square, the fruit of bigotry that should be discredited, stigmatized and repressed. Parents will find that, almost Soviet-style, their own children will be re-educated using their own tax dollars to disrespect their parents' views and values.


    Parent
    Honest response by her (5.00 / 3) (#16)
    by MKS on Fri Aug 06, 2010 at 02:39:51 PM EST
    Social conservatives crave the government's validation of their views of religion and morality.

      The absence of such validation amounts to persecution.....

    This is because social conservatives are essentially authoritarian and must have the overt blessing of those in authority....else they face an existential crisis.

    Parent

    of course they flip (5.00 / 1) (#23)
    by jondee on Fri Aug 06, 2010 at 04:07:02 PM EST
    it around and try to insinuate that there's this great liberal desire for a "soviet style", iron-fisted regime that will take over the education of children from their parents..

    The first step toward "secular" reeducation camps  (charted, mapped and graphed by the Becks of the world) etc  

     

    Parent

    "our deeply held moral views" (5.00 / 2) (#21)
    by rea on Fri Aug 06, 2010 at 04:02:36 PM EST
    ". . .  on sex and marriage are unacceptable in the public square, the fruit of bigotry that should be discredited, stigmatized and repressed."

    Well, yes.  You begin to understand.

    Parent

    Didn't I read that the conservatives (5.00 / 2) (#26)
    by MO Blue on Fri Aug 06, 2010 at 04:26:34 PM EST
    were rewriting history in Texas and implementing what she says she fears?

    Parents will find that, almost Soviet-style, their own children will be re-educated using their own tax dollars to disrespect their parents' views and values.


    Parent
    they really best part (none / 0) (#13)
    by Capt Howdy on Fri Aug 06, 2010 at 02:28:37 PM EST
    their own children will be re-educated using their own tax dollars to disrespect their parents' views and values.

    its true!

    Parent

    It's a Civil-Wrong! (none / 0) (#14)
    by ellengrace on Fri Aug 06, 2010 at 02:32:41 PM EST
    Soviet-style.

    Perhaps I myself am biased, but I really, honestly doubt she read more than a breaking news article about the ruling.

    Parent

    you might be right (none / 0) (#17)
    by Capt Howdy on Fri Aug 06, 2010 at 03:44:15 PM EST
    the headline for example.

    pretty much everything I have read about it says the opposite.

    Parent

    oh lord, what nonsense. (none / 0) (#27)
    by DFLer on Fri Aug 06, 2010 at 04:54:48 PM EST
    Did the founding fathers create a right to divorce?

    Sack had a good 'toon in this morning's Strib

    Parent

    I love everything (none / 0) (#3)
    by ellengrace on Fri Aug 06, 2010 at 01:45:02 PM EST
    I have heard regarding Judge Walker's background. For every personal argument wingnuts throw whining about a "biased" decision, Walker pulls out another hidden gem.

    And this is all on top of that wonderfully written opinion. Where's his Supreme Court nomination?

    (Tounge-in-cheek... but just barely)

    I am suprised how (5.00 / 2) (#5)
    by MKS on Fri Aug 06, 2010 at 01:58:07 PM EST
    satisfying the opinion is.  It seemed that the whole lawsuit was just tilting at windmills....

    The really cool bonus is how Walker just dismantles the anti-gay talking points with evidence....A good example of how to deal with prejudice?  Calmly, point by point....

    Even if Walker is ultimately reversed, his opinion will stand the test of time imo.

    Parent

    Oh definitely. (none / 0) (#11)
    by ellengrace on Fri Aug 06, 2010 at 02:17:38 PM EST
    Walker took apart each and every argument proponents of Prop 8 were standing on and very clearly explained why he ruled how he did. I was visibly giddy while reading much of the opinion because of how explicitly he stated that much of the proponent's case lacks the legal basis for creating law, nor is much of it even related to the legality of Proposition 8 itself. And I feel it's because he wrote the opinion in this way higher courts are going to have a tough time reversing it, lest they want to claim "seperate but equal" is actually Constitutional.

    Parent
    GIven the Prop. 8 case was a court trial, (none / 0) (#18)
    by oculus on Fri Aug 06, 2010 at 03:44:37 PM EST
    did the defense perhaps agree to a court trial by an openly gay judge in order to set up SCOTUS making a final ruling against same sex marriage?

    wait (none / 0) (#19)
    by Capt Howdy on Fri Aug 06, 2010 at 03:53:41 PM EST
    you are suggesting Boise and Olsen did this as sort of a setup?

    if so I dont believe it for a second.  I think they sincerely believe it was the best vehicle to take to sotus

    Parent

    No. I am wondering if the defense (none / 0) (#20)
    by oculus on Fri Aug 06, 2010 at 04:02:02 PM EST
    stipulated to court trial before a known-to-be gay judge because they wanted to quickly get the issue to the current SCOTUS.  

    Parent
    Would the disqualification isue be different (none / 0) (#22)
    by rea on Fri Aug 06, 2010 at 04:05:57 PM EST
    . . . if the case had been tried in front of a well-known straight judge?

    Parent
    Almost impossible to get a different federal (5.00 / 1) (#24)
    by oculus on Fri Aug 06, 2010 at 04:10:48 PM EST
    district court judge than the one assigned, unless the assigned judge decides to recuse self.  Unusual. Maybe defense had no choice but court trial as issue was prelimin. injunction.  

    Parent
    a gay "conservative jurist" (none / 0) (#25)
    by Capt Howdy on Fri Aug 06, 2010 at 04:12:03 PM EST
    appointed by republicans?

    Parent
    Hate to agitate my (none / 0) (#28)
    by gyrfalcon on Fri Aug 06, 2010 at 10:06:39 PM EST
    GLBT friends, but I'm with him on that one.

    Judge Vaughn Walker: "Conservative Jurist, With An Independent Streak" | 26 comments (26 topical)

    Readers Must Login or Create an Account to Comment