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ODE Watch: Bush Invented Cronyism?

From today’s ODE editorial:

Alito once wrote in a job application, I am and always have been a conservative. Judges are not supposed to have views that put them on either side of the party line. Judges are expected to fairly apply the constitution to real world situations, and political or religious viewpoints should never be a factor in judicial decision making.

I guess this means the ODE is in favor of Ruth Bader Ginsburg stepping down. The Emerald is clearly having difficulty here in differentiating between a political philosophy and a judicial philosophy. Following a conservative judicial philosphy will mean that the justice fairly and consistently interprets the law with only minimal interference from personal political and religious bias.

As I’ve stated before, there are things that must be asked of Alito in the confirmation hearings due to troubling statements he’s made in the past. But to judge him solely on his perceived view of Roe v. Wade and his purported political views is quite silly.

Of course, the sillyness doesn’t end there…

Alito is, like Miers, an old friend of President Bush. Alito might have more judicial experience than Miers, but hiring your friends to run the country is still not a good idea. The fact that words such as cronyism have entered our lexicon to describe Bushs recent appointments betrays the foolishness of this move.

Yes, because knowledge and use of the word “cronyism” was clearly rare before the Bush administration. Has anyone on the ODE Editorial board ever read about Tammany Hall, Ulysses S. Grant, or the Ohio Gang?

  1. Andy D says:

    Spare the rod and spoil the child…

  2. Anthony says:

    I dont know whether or not to always be pissed off at the ODE, or pity them. We all know that they will either be replacing Don on campus one day or selling joke books where Frog wasn did.

  3. Tyler says:

    The headline alone made me shake my head: Having a point of view — as a legal scholar no less — undermines objectivity … Riiiiight.

    Note to ODE: Having a point of view, or a political ideology, is not the great ethical lapse you think it is. It also does not mean that a person holds fringe beliefs (unless they do, but that has nothing to do with political labels).

    Either the ODE is completely naive or they’re playing a game of gotcha. Either way, their editorial made me roll my eyes so hard I busted a number of capillaries.

  4. Olly says:

    …paid very little and live exreemly stressful lives which will consume them in older years into bitter, mumbling morons…Um, did anyone else get kind of a shudder of recognition reading that, or was it just me?

  5. Olly says:

    Also, I loveJudges are not supposed to have views that put them on either side of the party line.Yes, they’re supposed to have led distinguished careers and reached positions of prominence in a system based on political appointments without displaying any affiliation to a political party. Not asking too much there, ODE.

  6. Olly says:

    Wasn’t Ginsburg’s nomination the first time it was expressly made acceptable for a nominee to just duck certain questions?

    The issue with Alito isn’t whether or not he’s a conservative; it’s whether or not he’s qualified. There doesn’t seem to be much doubt on that score. (As there wasn’t with Ginsburg, I think.)

  7. newguy says:


    I’ve seen this “you got your Ginsburg, why can’t we have our Alito” arguement several times. It’s unfair to Ginsburg, she never hedged about what she believed on abortion (or much of anything else). The anoying thing about Alito is that he won’t say who he is and what he believes and then fight the good fight. Why does every conservative judge hide behind obscure stealth mesages to the conservative base? Aren’t we the majority?

  8. Danimal says:

    Seems this is all traceable to Ailee Slater helming the editorial page. Appoint one of your dullard columnists to run the show and this is what you get.

  9. Ian says:

    Alito is not an old friend of George W. Bush.
    In my haste I forgot to mention this. From what I understand they had barely known each other before the process began.

  10. Casey says:

    Hell of a job Brownie.

  11. WWB says:

    Pardon, ODE? Alito is not an old friend of George W. Bush. And even if the future Texas president and longtime New Jersey judge had crossed paths, he is not a “crony” in the sense of Harriet Miers, or Don Evans, or the McClellan brothers, or many other of his appointed officials.

    As for cronyism in U.S. politics, the spoils system goes back to Andrew Jackson. And while it would be foolish to remind the ODE which political party he started, their accounting of cronyism should at least include President Clinton’s importing of his Arkansas pals to the White House (a couple of whom later did prison time, or arguably should have).

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