Halligan, who had been Solicitor General for Elliot Spitzer, the disgraced former Governor of New York, had engaged in the sort of legal advocacy that placed her on the extreme of American politics. Among the activist cases that she supported were these: Pro-life groups that are engaged in opposing abortions are guilty of extortion; colleges are proper in using race as a criteria for admitting students; illegal immigrants should be allowed back pay for labor disputes in our country; the Environmental Protection Agency has the authority to use the Clean Air Act to regulate the so-called “Greenhouse Gases”; and gun manufacturers may be sued for crimes committed with the weapons they made.
Although President Obama said that he was “deeply disappointed” in what he described as Republican obstructionism, in fact in the vote for cloture in the Senate, which requires 60 votes, Obama could muster only 54 votes, and the President could not even get every member of his own political party to support a procedural measure like cloture.
Senator Grassley, generally considered to be a “moderate” Republican and ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said: “Based on her record, I simply do not believe she will be able to put aside her long record of liberal advocacy and be a fair and impartial jurist.” Grassley represented the position of nearly every Republican. Lisa Murkowski, who was defeated in the Republican primary in Alaska last year but won her seat through write-in votes, voted for cloture, and Orin Hatch voted “present,” which was tantamount under the circumstances to voting against cloture.
Obama, both in his judicial appointments and in his Department of Justice is showing a willingness to use the legal and judicial system to advance radical policies that he probably could not get passed through Congress – Senator Grassley has also called for the resignation or firing of Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer for his role in the “Fast and Furious” scandal. On this vote, even the extreme liberal wing of the Republican Party, such as Senators Olympia Snowe, Scott Brown, John McCain, Lindsey Graham, and Susan Collins, stood united. Americans should hope that they hold fast. The judicial appointment that Halligan would have accepted has historically been a steppingstone to the Supreme Court.
