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Opening Arguments

A judicious stance

I've mentioned a time or two that Jeb Bush isn't my favorite presidential candidate, but I certainly like his stance on Supreme Court nominations:

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush has tried to put some distance between himself and his famous family’s history of judicial nominations, saying he would look only at potential picks who have a “proven record” rather than bowing to political considerations.

He said past presidents — whom he didn’t name, but the past two Republicans in the White House were his father and his brother — have picked people “that don’t have a proven record” because they’ve been too worried about facing an increasingly bloody Senate confirmation process.

Because we’re in this partisan environment now where every one of these appointees, it’ll be a big huge fight, and so, I believe we need to have people of experience, of a proven record, a consistent judicial philosophy that you know because they’ve done it over and over and over again, and then you got to fight like hell to make sure they get passed, and that’s my pledge,” the former governor said.

If George H.W. Bush had operated under the same principle, we wouldn't have David Souter on the bench trying to rewrite the Constitution. And John Roberts has been taking some funny turns lately, too.  Somebody can always surprise us once they get on the court -- lifetime tenure with unchecked power can warp someone's judgment. But a conservative president should at least look for candidates with a record that shows respect for the Constitution.

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