Who makes the appointments is not as important as the actual policy impact in real tems - indeed the fact that these are lifetime appointments means that the appointers can do nothing to control the tendency towards independence nor can they control the evolution of thought among individual judges. Also, the exigencies of the Republican agenda are constantly shifting, and its is hard if not imposssible to keep a large number of judges in lockstep - unless you are suggesting some kind of grand conspiracy. The record suggests that while Republicans might 'score' with some judicial appointments, many republican judges do not toe their line. Alex Kosinski, for example is one of the most indepedent Judges on the 9th Circuit, who is just as likely to rule in ways that progressives will like as he is to rule in favor of conservatives. If you look at the Supreme Court, there is little ideological distinction between the justices on economic issues, and in that regard, there have been instances, for example a recent ruling having to do with banking regulation, when the liberals have been worse than the conservatives. Joe W. On Wed, Feb 27, 2008 at 11:26 PM, Nalini Lasiewicz <LasiewiczN@xxxxxxx> wrote: > > --- In NewPacifica@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <NewPacifica%40yahoogroups.com>, > wanzala@ wrote: > > > > I invite you to provide actual examples and significant trends > showing a significant difference > > I don't know how much time you want to spend on this, but here's a > detailed analysis: > http://www.ajs.org/ajs/publications/Judicature_PDFs/906/Goldman_906.pdf > > In order to do a complete analysis, one has to understand the role of > lifetime judgeships, U.S. Court of Appeals, Circuit Judges, the Supreme > Court and lower courts of federal jurisdiction. Some of these > appointments are for a lifetime. So when one considers that out of the > last eight Presidents, five were Republicans [and none were "third > party,"[ you might understand why it's important to have a Democrat win > in November. These trends effect generations of legal rulings. > > Nalini > > >