The No-Confidence Man

By contrast, the National Review editorial board writes: "Last week, Attorney General Michael Mukasey tempted fate by appointing a quasi-independent counsel -- an experienced, respected career prosecutor from outside Washington -- to investigate a non-crime inflated to a scandal by Democrats' demagoguery: the 2006 firing of nine district United States attorneys. We can only hope the result is not another Scooter Libby debacle."

Bush's Judges

Dan Eggen writes in The Washington Post: "President Bush stepped gingerly into the presidential campaign on Monday, offering an implicit endorsement of Sen. John McCain's judicial philosophy and accusing Democrats of contributing to a 'broken confirmation process' for federal judges. . . .

"In defending the impact of his two appointments to the high court, Bush said Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. and Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. have produced a 'very different 5-4 majority' that has issued important rulings favorable to conservatives on gun rights and abortion.

"Nan Aron, president of the Alliance for Justice, a liberal advocacy group, said that 10 of the nation's 13 federal appellate courts are now 'dominated by conservatives' and that Roberts and Alito are part of a 'conservative juggernaut.'

"'This administration has cemented a transformation of our federal judiciary begun by Ronald Reagan, which has resulted in less freedom, less privacy and fewer constitutional protections,' Aron said."

Sheryl Gay Stolberg writes in the New York Times: "Legal experts say Mr. Bush has had a profound impact on the judiciary, reshaping it with a conservative tilt that could long outlast his administration. But with the Supreme Court split 5 to 4 on many decisions, both parties agree that it will take another vacancy -- to be filled, presumably, by the next president -- to either seal or undo that legacy.

"Mr. McCain has vowed to follow Mr. Bush's approach in appointing judges, and in previewing Monday's remarks, the White House circulated a document saying Mr. Bush would 'reiterate that America deserves a president who will appoint strong, well-qualified judges.'"

Joe Sudbay writes on Americablog that "yesterday, Bush was on the campaign trail for McCain. The GOPers were trying to be subtle and act like this was a presidential event, not a campaign event. But, let's review facts: Bush was in Ohio. He wasn't talking about the only issue that Americans care about right now, which is the economy. No, Bush was in the swing state of Ohio talking about the need for more right-wing judges."

Law professor Brian Tamanaha blogs that Bush's age-old charge that Democrats appoint "activist" judges is just plain wrong: "If 'activism' means a propensity to invalidate legislation, Justices Scalia and Thomas have voted in favor of striking legislation at almost double the rate of liberal Justices. If 'activism' means discarding or altering precedent (whether explicitly or implicitly), the conservative dominated Supreme Court has done so lately with a startling lack of restraint. If 'activism' means injecting political views into judicial interpretation, it is absurd to suggest that the recent votes of conservative Justices are not predictable on political grounds. . . .

"This old election tactic -- running against activist judges -- is also absurd when one considers that the current Supreme Court, and the federal bench generally, is overwhelmingly dominated by appointees of Republican Presidents (Reagan, Bush I, Bush II)."

Veep Watch

Barton Gellman writes for Slate: "Dick Cheney made his mark by transforming the job of vice president into something very close to deputy president. Now the question is whether Sarah Palin, and to a lesser extent Joe Biden, can carry on his legacy -- or whether America should want them to. The answer to both questions: probably not.

"Cheney brought to office a singular blend of knowledge, experience, discipline, zealotry, and operational talent. The last two are especially rare in combination, and mercifully so. Zealots drive history harder than opportunists do when they get their hands on the wheel. Cheney won room for maneuver from President Bush, and he knew how to use it. The interplay of their dispositions and skills (vision vs. execution, instinct vs. analysis) left even the president unaware of some of the paths that Cheney took."