Quote:
Originally Posted by craigimass
"Not only do state-court judges possess the power to "make" common law, but they have the immense power to shape the States' constitutions as well"
"In fact, however, the judges of inferior courts often "make law," since the precedent of the highest court does not cover every situation, and not every case is reviewed"
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Again...you miss the crucial LEGAL issue...the word STATE. The state laws, judges and constitutions are QUITE different than the feds and judges in state courts have very different situations than Supreme Court Justices. That many state judges are ELECTED and campaign on ISSUES alone give proof to the notion that they are political representatives of their population.
This says NOTHING about the temperment needed to be a justice of the Supreme Court and is a completely accurate statement of FACT about state judicial systems.
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As to the Alito quote...
HOW CONVENIENT that you left out the VERY NEXT LINE of that testimony. Could you be trying to spin it??
"And that's why I went into that in my opening statement. Because when a case comes before me involving, let's say, someone who is an immigrant -- and we get an awful lot of immigration cases and naturalization cases -- I can't help but think of my own ancestors, because it wasn't that long ago when they were in that position.
And so it's my job to apply the law. It's not my job to change the law or to bend the law to achieve any result."