CNN.com – Ashcroft: ‘Activist’ judges can put nation’s security at risk – Nov 12, 2004

Without referring to specific adverse rulings on the treatment of detainees or enemy combatants, Ashcroft blasted “activist” judges for encroaching on the powers that he insists belong solely to the president in wartime.

“The danger I see here is that intrusive judicial oversight and second-guessing of presidential determinations in these critical areas can put at risk the very security of our nation in a time of war,” Ashcroft said. …

“Ideologically driven courts have disregarded and dismissed the president’s evaluations of foreign policy concerns, in favor of theories generated by academic elites, foreign bodies and judicial imagination,” Ashcroft said.

Wampum: Liberal Federal Judges?

The conservative argument that the Federal Judiciary is controlled by liberals may have been true at one time but is clearly not the case today. That point can be demonstrated in three ways. First, the numbers show that it is Republican Presidents, not Democrats who, by and large, have shaped the current Federal Judiciary.

Of the nine current members of the Supreme Court, seven were appointed by Republicans. In the last thirty-five years (since 1969) there have been thirteen appointments to the Supreme Court. Republican Presidents have made eleven of those appointments while Democratic Presidents have made two.

At the Circuit Court of Appeals level, the pattern remains the same. Since 1969, Republican Presidents have appointed 211 Judges to the Circuit Courts. Democrats have appointed 122. Since 1969, Republican Presidents have appointed 813 trial Judges to the District Court bench while Democrats have made 508 such appointments.

If the Federal Judiciary is comprised of a bunch of liberal activists, it is the GOP who put them there.

[original links from dangerousmeta!]