On The Democratic Daily: JUDGE BROWNIE, Posted by John Kerry

JUDGE BROWNIE
Posted by John Kerry
May 26th, 2006 @ 1:41 pm
Remember Brownie? This morning Senate Republicans might as well have given him a federal judgeship.

Federal judgeships cannot be political gifts to political cronies.

But that’s what happened this morning – Brett Kavanaugh is now a judge on the D.C. Circuit. And Washington barely seemed to notice – in spite of the noise we Democrats made about his outrageous nomination.

Am I overstating the case? You tell me.

<snip>

What are we stuck with? Judges on the D.C. Circuit — the court to which Mr. Kavanaugh was just confirmed — averaged over 26 years of legal experience at the time of their confirmation. Kavanaugh will be a glaring exception. In his 15-year legal career, he has only played a central role in five cases—and was the lead counsel in only three of those.

So why did he get the job? Kavanaugh has been a key member of the Bush Administration from day one. Now the President’s Staff Secretary, he began his White House career in the Office of Legal Council. During his tenure there, his primary responsibility was selecting and preparing federal court nominees. Given his past recommendations, judges like Priscilla Owen, Janice Rogers-Brown, and William Pryor, and his central role in pushing the federal judiciary far to the right of mainstream American, I don’t think I’m going out on a limb predicting the kind of judge Kavanaugh will be.

http://blog.thedemocraticdaily.com/?p=3127