With 59 Democratic senators, shouldn't we get a REAL liberal for the SCOTUS?

[Hawaii Hiker]

I was looking at senate.gov, George HW Bush was able to replace Thurgood Marshall (liberal) with arguably the most conservative idealogue ever in Clarence Thomas....And Democrats controlled the senate in 1991, (11 Democrats for some inexplicable reason voted for him)..
http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=102&session=1&vote=00220

Could you imagine if Reagan or Bush 1 or 2 had 59 Rethugs in the senate?...

Sorry, but of the names being talked about most thus far to replace Justice Stevens (Kagan, Garland, S. Thomas) these are moderates...

Here's still hoping (or is it wishful thinking?) for a REAL liberal appt (Diane Wood, Pamela Karlan, Harold Koh, couple others), this is probably the last, best chance to excite the base before the Nov. elections..

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

1. I sent an email to the Whitehouse

asking that a LIBERAL judge be nominated for the court. What else can we do?

[onehandle]

2. Cue some to attack you for suggesting a liberal. nt

[HughMoran]

32. Cue some snarky troublemaker trying to induce flames

:P

[onehandle]

34. Thems' fightin' words.

:+

[Captain Hilts]

3. I think so. nt

[Better Today]

4. As we are all becoming painfully aware,... Democrat does not = Liberal

[Dinger]

42. I Hear Ya (nt)

[msongs]

5. lol conservatives usually appoint...ta da...conservatives nt

[Smarmie Doofus]

6. Of course. It's unreal that we even have to make this argument. nt

[jody]

7. AGREE! Liberal as in minimum government and maximum individual freedom. n/t

[blue_onyx]

8. Obama is a moderate

Why are people shocked that most of the candidates mentioned are moderates?

[Hawaii Hiker]

9. Yes, President Obama is definitely a moderate,

but i thought he might just go liberal on SCOTUS appointments, especially after the awful Citizens United ruling...

Please Mr. President just this once, do something REALLY left of center, give the left our Scalia...

[last_texas_dem]

25. Carter and Clinton could both be classified as moderates

but Clinton's USSC appointees were both pretty liberal (albeit not as liberal as some made by previous Democratic presidents), and many of the most liberal members of the federal courts were appointed by Carter. I'm personally not shocked that Obama may not be considering particularly liberal candidates for the courts, but I also don't think doing so would be that odd, considering the records of previous "moderate" Democratic presidents.

[johnnypneumatic]

10. only a few of the 59 are liberals

and Obama isn't a liberal either

[Bitwit1234]

11. Obama seems to have made the pick of the conservative Kagan

how in the hell he can pick her, when she is definitely conservative. When there is no way she could cajole people into the left's point of view the way the justice she would be replacing. And I don't think she would even try.

It seems that Obama is doing his best to please the republicans in every thing he does. Look at the cuts in the health care bill he urges. Look at what he urged in the wall street and big bank bill. Is he republican or is he the democrat we all voted for. I am beginning to wonder.

[Tesha]

15. Face it: we were punked.

We all *KNEW* he was no liberal, but he's turned out to be
much worse than most of us imagined. He's not just ignored
the left, he's actively worked *AGAINST* our positions in many
of his actions and appointments.

Tesha

[Tarheel_Dem]

35. "much worse than most of us imagined". What an utter crock of shit.

You don't speak for me, and I don't think you speak for "most" on the left. I think this president hates ideologues nearly as much as I do.

[denimgirly]

17. And dont forget the appeasing to the right with the Baffling Offshore Drilling BEFORE negotiating...

He is certainly no liberal and me thinks the meaning of left is somewhere way right.

[geek tragedy]

40. She clerked for Thurgood Marshall.

Highly unlikely that she is a conservative. The rest of your post is premature whining.

[Jakes Progress]

12. For that you would need a liberal president. nt

[Jennicut]

13. Where are the 59 liberals in the Senate? We have about 15.

[boppers]

16. "Me too!" Several in this thread have made this point.

Electing Obama didn't turn all of the Senate into Bernie Sanders.... it didn't even turn Obama into Bernie Sanders.

[salguine]

14. You're equating "Democrat"—in the party-wide sense—with "liberal". And haven't we all

seen more than enough to know that that is far from the case?

Yes, I wish we would get a genuine progressive liberal on the court. I ain't holding my breath. Obama will probably want to make sure the Republicans are okay with his choices.

[denimgirly]

18. Obama will always, ALWAYS look to please the Right--so NO CHANCE for a Liberal (or even slight-left)

We've seen this too often...Obama consistently looks to please the right in every decision he makes such as the diastrous offshore drilling before even negotiating despite his talk to the left of not doing it in the campaign. He will msot certainly choose a conservative....no question about it.

[Cali_Democrat]

19. What do you think of Obama's Sotomayor pick?

Do you think she is too moderate and not liberal enough? What decisions has she made that you disagree with?

[Hawaii Hiker]

22. I think the Sotomayor pick was good,

but he has a GOLDEN opportunity to keep some needed balance on the SCOTUS w/the Stevens replacement pick...

He may not get a chance to make another appointment to the high court, even if he wins (and i think he will) another term...President Clinton got to make 2 SCOTUS appointments in his first two years, then there wasn't an opening for over a decade (until Renquist died in 2005)...

Sorry to keep harping on it, but just imagine who a Republican president would put on the court with a 59-41 majority..

[ibegurpard]

20. just like we should have gotten healthcare reform?

yeah right...

[yurbud]

21. moderate is a misnomer for corporate stooges

[BlooInBloo]

23. I think it's funny how people are so eager to bitch at Obama, they can't even wait for him

to make his decision.

:rofl:

[Jennicut]

30. Or, per some here, he HAS made his decision already.

They just know it already or something...

[geek tragedy]

41. And they KNOW that Kagan is really just like Roberts and Alito.

Such geniuses amongst us.

[tavalon]

24. Well, one can hope,

but I think we first need a liberal President.

[last_texas_dem]

26. And Thomas would've received many more Democratic votes if not for the Anita Hill scandal

Compare that to the Repugs, who managed to rally 31 votes to oppose the center-left Sotomayor, on the grounds that she once dared to utter the phrase "wise Latina."

[greencharlie]

27. I LIKE Kagan... a lot. But not on SCOTUS. nt

[retread]

28. Are you privy to information no one else has? n/t

[paulk]

29. Bush didn't need 59 Republicans

to appoint two of the most far right justices the country has ever seen...

Which doesn't bode well for the appointment of a liberal to replace Stevens.

That would actually take some political courage from the Democrats

[old mark]

31. Yes, I emailed the WH as well, stating that it is beyond time to

give a little to the left who actually voted for Obama rather than continue to give concessions to the right who hate him. Repeal DADT, send a REAL LIBERAL to the Court and maybe we can get some more liberals to vote in November. Otherwise, it may be a hard sell...and we really do not need any more republicans in American government, period.

mark

[Zavulon]

33. You'd think, but with 59 Democratic senators I was expecting a REAL health care plan.

We got the shitty Republican one instead and now we hall have to buy insurance while the IRS adds thousands of agents to ensure compliance in Operation Enrich Insurance Companies.

I'm not expecting a Scalia from Obama, but I'm not expecting an actual liberal either.

[whistler162]

36. Real Liberal or real Liberal until they do something

that isn't within your agenda?

[quaker bill]

37. When we have 59 "real liberal" senators

and a dozen or so more just plain Democrats, then you can get a REAL liberal. What you have is about 20 real liberals, 32 liberal leaners, and 7 blue dog center to center-right types. At one point in the FDR administration the Dems held 84 seats. Do that and now you are talking.

[Hawaii Hiker]

38. 84 seats??

Shit, it was hard as hell to get 60..Specter switched parties, Franken won the close MN. race, Begich won in ultra-red Alaska, and we would need 24 more, lol....

You're right, there probably are only about 20 REAL liberal senators, & several blue dog types, but still, we should be able to confirm a very liberal justice....All we need is 50 plus Joe Biden (as he breaks the ties as President of the Senate)...

[onenote]

43. the largest number of Democratic senators during FDR's presidency was 76 and

a lot of those were very conservative southern Democrats.

I don't know where you pulled that "84" number from. The Democratic majorities in the Senate during FDR's presidency were:

1932 60
1934 69
1936 76
1938 69
1940 66
1942 58

[LWolf]

39. We might if we had a REAL liberal in the WH. nt