The Rise of the Religious Right in the Republican Party

The Independent Judiciary web site provides current information and the latest news on nominations to the federal bench.

James Leon Holmes is Bush's most recent nomination. From Americans United, July 5, 2004:

Noting that "Christianity transcends the political order and cannot be subordinated to the political order," he also suggested that eventually religion and government would be one.

"The final reunion of Church and state will take place at the end of time, when Christ will claim definitive political power of all creation, inaugurating an entirely new society based on the supernatural," Holmes declared at the religious gathering.

In a 1997 article for an Arkansas publication, he and his wife wrote that, "The wife is subordinate to herself and to her husband" and that "the woman is to place herself under the authority of the man."

Michael McConnell, appointed to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals, said, "Freedom flourishes when man is subordinate to God."

Janice Brown was described by the New York Times as "among the very worst" of Bush's nominees:

[Janice Brown's] judicial philosophy puts her even further to the right than the most far-right justices now sitting on the U.S. Supreme Court, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas.

Carolyn Kuhl threw out a suit brought by a woman with breast cancer whose doctor had brought a drug company salesman into the examining room where he witnessed an intimate examination of her.  A unanimous appeals court later reversed Kuhl's decision.

Priscilla Owen represents the "far right wing" of the Texas Supreme Court.  One of her many rightward dissents from that court's majority opinions was described as an "unconscionable act of judicial activism" by Alberto Gonzalez, President Bush's chief White House Counsel who was then also a justice on the Texas court.

Assistant Atty. Gen. Jay S. Bybee who wrote the infamous memo in effect defending torture is now a U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals judge.

Three Links from TomPaine.com on Judicial Nominations

On pro-choice, moderate Republicans who are supporting the Bush nominees:

On the importance of appellate court judges: the Supreme Court hears only about eighty cases a year, while appellate courts hear tens of thousands of cases. "Appellate judges interpret a huge chunk of the law that we live by.".

"The TomPaine.com staff have prepared a compendium of articles, reports and statements relevant to the court-stacking agenda pursued by the Bush administration, and what can be done to stop it. Each article or statement below links to its original publication, where you will find the full text."