McCain on Judges

The news reports on McCain's latest speech, given at Wake Forest University May 6, are that he criticized Obama's "no" votes against Justice Roberts and Alito. McCain does that, quite well, saying that Obama's view of a good Justice "sound like an activist judge wrote them" and exposing Obama's pro-activist inclinations:

And just where did John Roberts fall short, by the Senator's measure? Well, a justice of the court, as Senator Obama explained it -- and I quote -- should share "one's deepest values, one's core concerns, one's broader perspectives on how the world works, and the depth and breadth of one's empathy." ...

Somehow, by Senator Obama's standard, even Judge Roberts didn't measure up. And neither did Justice Samuel Alito. Apparently, nobody quite fits the bill except for an elite group of activist judges, lawyers, and law professors who think they know wisdom when they see it -- and they see it only in each other.

Yet the real message is McCain's own standard, so a better headline might be - John McCain offers coherent view of how as President he will choose Judges:

I will look for accomplished men and women with a proven record of excellence in the law, and a proven commitment to judicial restraint. I will look for people in the cast of John Roberts, Samuel Alito, and my friend the late William Rehnquist -- jurists of the highest caliber who know their own minds, and know the law, and know the difference. My nominees will understand that there are clear limits to the scope of judicial power, and clear limits to the scope of federal power. They will be men and women of experience and wisdom, and the humility that comes with both. They will do their work with impartiality, honor, and humanity, with an alert conscience, immune to flattery and fashionable theory, and faithful in all things to the Constitution of the United States.

McCain is coherent and correct on this. Obama's standard reeks of the philosophy of elitist judicial activism. McCain is standing on the firm ground of rule-of-law, judicial restraint, and Constitutional limited Government. Justice Roberts is well-respected precisely because he is playing the role of 'umpire' not ball-player and doing it quite well.