Remember when the right threw a hissy fit when Prop 8 came before a judge who was also gay?

[ck4829]

On Tuesday, Gov. Tim Pawlenty appointed Jamie L. Anderson to the 4th Judicial District Court following the retirement of Judges Tanja Manrique. Press reports note that Anderson is the wife of Pawlenty’s deputy chief of staff and that the appointment raised eyebrows because the governor bypassed the standard judicial selection process to tap a friend’s wife who has little major legal experience. But one fact may shed some light on the appointment: Anderson has ample religious right experience.

Pawlenty picked Anderson without going through the Commission on Judicial Selection, which vets applications for judicial positions and makes recommendations to the governor. Pawlenty skipped that process, and while legally he has that right and past governors have also done the same, local media picked up on it because Anderson is a friend of Pawenty’s. As MinnPost notes, she’s married to Paul Anderson, who serves as his deputy chief of staff.

“Anderson was a surprise choice because she works for a small firm, has not been a prominent lawyer and was not screened through the Commission on Judicial Selection,” the Star Tribune wrote on Tuesday.

But she has handled some high-profile cases for the religious right.

Anderson served as counsel for the Minnesota Family Council (MFC) when that group recently petitioned a Hennepin County judge to become defendants in a case seeking to overturn Minnesota’s ban on same-sex marriage. Three couples have filed suit against Hennepin County and the State of Minnesota challenging the state’s Defense of Marriage Act. The case will be heard in the 4th Judicial District Court, the same court where Anderson was appointed.

http://minnesotaindependent.com/75596/pawlentys-bypass-pick-for-judge-was-lawyer-for-minnesota-family-council

How many conflicts of interest can you spot? Pawlenty must be trying to go for a record or something, he is REALLY trying to become the GOP's man in 2012.

[sinkingfeeling]

1. But it's the Republican way to hand out plums to friends and family.

[Angry Dragon]

2. Little timmy has no moral code

the only code he follows is how best to serve himself and to hell with anyone else

[toddwv]

3. Stacking the court with religious nuts.

Nothing like a slew of unobjective and truly activist right-wing fundies making legal decisions.

[gratuitous]

4. The right throws so many hissy fits, it's hard to remember them all

But indeed, here's a cozy little arrangement, no? Is this an appointment to a Minnesota state trial court? I'm not familiar with Minnesota's court set up, but if this is "just" a state trial court, it's probably less crucial than an appointment to the state court of appeals or supreme court. Also, if it's an appointment to fill a vacancy, governors do that in any number of states to fill unexpired terms of judges who retire, get kicked upstairs to an appellate court position, or die in office.

[DainBramaged]

5. The Right, they RAIL against the use of the courts, unless it suits them