Sen. Obama Will Be Our Next President: What Now?
November 6th, 2008
As Americans everywhere marvel at the historic nature of this year’s election and celebrate the coming of a new political era, it is also important to maintain our focus, for as President- elect Barack Obama stated in his victory speech, “victory alone is not the change we seek…it is only the chance for us to make that change.” And there is a lot of work to be done.
From my perspective, one of the most important issues facing our nation and an Obama administration will be the future of the judiciary . We must return to a respect for core constitutional principles and the rule of law. As of Inauguration Day, there will likely be at least 55 vacancies on the federal bench: 15 appellate, and 40 district. Beyond filling those vacancies, many also speculate that our new president could appoint as many as three justices to the Supreme Court. The new judges who occupy lifetime positions are often a president’s most lasting legacy.
The lasting legacy of the federal bench is something that has been at the center of President Bush’s administration. For the last eight years, he and his allies have focused much of their attention on re-making our judiciary. They have packed our courts with ultra-conservative and ideological jurists and, as a result, our nation’s principles of fairness, equality and justice have been under siege. Now is the time to take a new path.
As the hard work of the transition begins and the short lists are compiled, the Obama administration should look to nominate individuals who come from diverse backgrounds and different experiences including governors, attorneys general, state legislators and public interest lawyers—people who understand how the law affects ordinary people. Even more importantly, President- elect Obama should nominate people with an expansive vision of constitutional freedoms and equality. By placing judges on the federal bench who will put the law above politics, the next administration can begin to undo some of the damage done during the past eight years.
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