For Immediate Release Tuesday, October 7, 2008
‘The Supreme Court has begun another term, and it again possesses a full docket of critical cases,’ observes Bob Barr, the Libertarian Party candidate for president. ‘Judicial appointments are one of the most important issues in choosing the next president, but we don’t need conservative or liberal justices. Rather, we need justices committed to the Constitution, with its stringent limits on government power and strong protections for individual liberty,’ Barr explains.
‘Last term, the Supreme Court delivered some important rulings on behalf of constitutional liberty, but just barely. It defended both the right to own firearms and the right to habeas corpus by the narrowest of margins — only a five to four decision,’ notes Barr. ‘These decisions were commonly treated as ‘conservative’ and ‘liberal’ wins, respectively, but they were actually victories for the Constitution,’ he says.
‘Unfortunately, neither Sen. John McCain nor Sen. Barack Obama can be trusted to appoint justices likely to consistently enforce constitutional liberty. One of Sen. McCain’s signature pieces of legislation, campaign finance ‘reform,’ constitutes a direct assault on the First Amendment. He called the case last Spring that upheld the importance of the Great Writ of Habeas Corpus — which forces the government to justify arresting an individual — one of the ‘worst decisions in history.’ Sen. McCain also believes in vesting the executive branch with far more power than authorized by the Constitution,’ notes Barr.
‘Sen. Obama is no better,” states Barr. “He says court cases should be based in part on ‘one’s deepest values, one’s core concerns, one’s broader perspectives on how the world works and the depth and breadth of one’s empathy.’ This, of course, is an open invitation to legislate from the bench, meaning that no constitutional right — no matter how fundamental — is secure,’ Barr warns. ‘This kind of judicial lawmaking explains why the Supreme Court has so often acted to expand state power and restrict individual liberty,’ says Barr.
“And both Senators McCain and Obama support dramatic, unconstitutional expansion of the power of the government to wiretap American citizens in their own country without court review,” says Barr.
‘As president, I would appoint justices who understand that the Constitution created a national government of only limited, enumerated powers. There would be no litmus test for any particular issue. Rather, my only concern would be their commitment to the Constitution and the system of limited government and individual liberty that it creates. Only when Supreme Court justices and other federal judges are dedicated to defending the Constitution as written will our liberties be secure,’ explains Barr.
Libertarian Party presidential candidate Bob Barr represented the 7th District of Georgia in the U. S. House of Representatives from 1995 to 2003.
The Libertarian Party is America’s third largest political party, founded in 1971 as an alternative to the two main political parties. You can find more information on the Libertarian Party by visiting www.LP.org . The Libertarian Party proudly stands for smaller government, lower taxes and more freedom.
