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Tonight, President Bush will address members of the Federalist Society and discuss the need to confirm good judges and reform the judicial confirmation process.
On the Senate confirmation process:
Senate confirmation is part of the Constitution's system of checks and balances. But it was never intended to be a license to ruin the good name that a nominee has worked a lifetime to build. Today, good men and women nominated to the federal bench are finding that inside the Beltway, too many interpret "advise and consent" to mean "search and destroy."
As a result, the Senate is no longer asking the right question – whether a nominee is someone who will uphold our Constitution and laws. Instead, nominees are asked to guarantee specific outcomes of cases that might come before the court. If they refuse – as they should – they often find their nomination ends up in limbo instead of on the Senate floor.
On the loss of good judicial candidates:
Everyone in this room has watched a good person who has had his or her name unfairly tarnished by the confirmation process. What you do not see are the good men and women who never make it to the confirmation process. Lawyers approached about being nominated will politely decline because of the ugliness, uncertainty, and delay that now characterize the confirmation process. … When people like this decline to be nominated, they miss out on a job. But America is deprived of something far more important: the service of a fair and impartial judge.
On activist judges:
When the Founders drafted the Constitution, they had a clear understanding of tyranny. They also had a clear idea about how to prevent it from ever taking root in America. Their solution was to separate the government’s powers into three co-equal branches: the executive, the legislature, and the judiciary. Each of these branches plays a vital role in our free society. Each serves as a check on the others. And to preserve our liberty, each must meet its responsibilities – and resist the temptation to encroach on the powers the Constitution accords to the others.
For the judiciary, resisting this temptation is particularly important – because it is the only branch that is unelected, and whose officers serve for life. Unfortunately, some judges give in to temptation and make law instead of interpreting it. Such judicial lawlessness is a threat to our democracy – and it needs to stop.
On a "living constitution":
Advocates of a more active role for judges sometimes talk of a "living constitution." In practice, a living Constitution means whatever these activists want it to mean. They forget that our Constitution lives because we respect it enough to adhere to its words. It is the oldest written Constitution in the world. It is the foundation of America’s experiment in self-government. And it will continue to live only so long as we continue to recognize its wisdom and division of authority.
On upholding the Constitution:
The President's oath of office commits him to do his best to "preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States." I take these words seriously. I believe these words mean what they say. And I ask my nominees to the federal bench to take seriously their own oath to uphold the Constitution – because I strongly believe our freedom depends on the willingness of judges to be bound by the Constitution and the law.
