Romney Announces Judicial Advisory Committee

[Jambo4]

 

Romney Announces Judicial Advisory Committee

From the official release:

Mitt Romney announced today the formation of his Justice Advisory Committee.  This group of distinguished lawyers will draw on their experience in all three branches of government, private practice, industry, and academia to advise Governor Romney in his campaign for the presidency. The committee will advise on the Constitution, judicial matters, law enforcement, homeland security, and regulatory issues. Where appropriate and permitted, some committee members will provide legal counsel to the campaign.“Our democracy depends on a government that respects the Constitution and the rule of law.  Our nation needs a Congress and an Executive branch that are cognizant of the bounds of their powers and a judiciary that will strictly construe the Constitution and refuse to legislate from the bench,” Governor Romney said. “I am proud and honored to have the support of an extraordinary group of attorneys and legal scholars. Their deep experience and wisdom will be invaluable as we address the constitutional and legal issues facing the nation.”
The Chairpersons of the Advisory Committee – Judge Robert Bork, Professor Mary Ann Glendon, and Richard Wiley – issued a joint statement saying, “Mitt Romney deeply understands that the rule of law and the integrity of our courts are essential components of our nation’s strength and must be preserved.  He will nominate judges who faithfully adhere to the Constitution’s text, structure, and history and he will carry out the duties of President as a zealous defender of the Constitution.  We fully support Mitt Romney’s campaign and look forward to working with other members of the committee as we advise him on today’s pressing legal issues.”
The committee includes such prominent lawyers as Secretary Michael Chertoff, Chancellor William Allen, Chief Justice Thomas Phillips, Steven Bradbury, Maureen Mahoney, Christopher Landau, Wendy Long, David Rivkin, Jr., Lee Casey, Alan Gura, Jay Stephens, Robert O’Brien, and John Sullivan.
 
 
That same day two of its three chairmen — Judge Robert H. Bork and Professor Mary Ann Glendon — released an op-ed entitled, “Toward a Government of Laws”. It is a broad, sweeping condemnation by two of the most prestigious legal minds in the country of the current administration’s disdain for and disregard of the rule of law.
Here is the op-ed in its entirety :

Today, we join over sixty leaders of the legal profession — private practitioners, corporate lawyers, former judges and executive branch employees, academicians — in expressing our fervent support for Mitt Romney in his run for the presidency.
Each of these individuals has his or her own reasons for supporting Mitt Romney.  Our reason is this: America was founded on and owes its freedom and prosperity to rigorous devotion to the Constitution and the rule of law.  President Obama lacks dedication to these principles.  He has repeatedly attacked the rule of law and the institutions and virtues it protects.  Mitt Romney, in contrast, is assiduous in his defense of the distinctive legal heritage that is the bedrock of our society.
Barack Obama’s presidency — marked by unprecedented claims of federal power and executive fiat — has accelerated an imprudent and dangerous drift from the rule of law.  We see this drift in three main instances.
First, we are alarmed by President Obama’s abdication of his duty to zealously defend and administer the laws of the United States.  In an absolutely unprecedented action, President Obama and his attorney general have refused to defend an important federal statute, the Defense of Marriage Act, in court.  This lawlessness is particularly striking, given that the DOMA was passed by large majorities in both Houses of Congress before it was signed by President Clinton.  What the administration’s decision seems to reflect is not only the President’s disregard for the rule of law, but his disdain for traditional family values and the people who hold them (people who, as he contemptuously put it, “cling to guns or religion”).
The Obama Administration has also refused to fully enforce federal immigration laws, going so far as to sue states that pass laws to perform the enforcement duties the federal government will not.  And in Guantanamo detainee litigation, the administration has declined to make the most obvious legal arguments, apparently for political reasons.
Second, we see the drift in numerous examples of President Obama’s expansion of executive discretion and regulatory power.  Most glaring is Obamacare, which constitutes an unprecedented federal usurpation of powers reserved to the states and to the people.  Further, both Obamacare and the wide-ranging financial regulatory law have created multiple independent boards with broad mandates to act free from both the ballot box and meaningful oversight.  Those same laws have given bureaucrats the discretionary power to grant waivers, the criteria for which are largely unknown.  The Environmental Protection Agency has claimed vast powers to regulate carbon emissions despite clear congressional intent to the contrary and widespread popular opposition.
Third, we see disdain for the rule of law in President Obama’s standard for selecting judges.  He desires that his judicial nominees have a capacity for “empathy” with litigants — to shade their decisions based not on the law, but on who stands before them.  This is in flat violation of the oath every judge takes to decide the cases before them “without respect to persons.”  It is a dangerous invitation for judges to arrogate power to themselves and to discount the text of our Constitution and the will of the people as expressed through democratically enacted statutes.
Our observations stand independently of any substantive assessment of the political outcomes President Obama pursues.  Rather, we are dismayed that, in pursuing these outcomes, the administration has unmoored itself from constitutional and legal constraints on its power.
We support Mitt Romney because he is committed to restoring a government of laws, and not of men.
— Judge Robert H. Bork & Professor Mary Ann Glendon

[Meadowchik]

Good post.  Over and over,Romney obviously operate on the principle of forethought and thorough preparation.