Ralph Neas, president of the liberal advocacy group, People for the American Way, is not a happy guy right now. No one's worked harder than Neas to prevent the confirmation of President Bush's judicial nominees. And now things seem to be falling apart for Neas.
Just yesterday,the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Patrick Leahy, announced he would vote to confirm Judge Roberts. That threw Neas into a fit of anger:
''When John Roberts becomes chief justice and votes to erode or overturn longstanding Supreme Court precedents protecting fundamental civil rights, women's rights, privacy, religious liberty, reproductive rights, and environmental safeguards, Senator Leahy's support for Roberts will make him complicit in those rulings."Gone now are what for Neas were the happy days when he could insist that eminently qualified nominees like Miquel Estrada and Priscilla Owen not even get a full Senate vote on their nominations. That both had received the American Bar Association's highest rating for judicial nominees, Well Qualified, was beside the point. Neas didn't want them confirmed. That's what seemed to matter
Neas' happy days were only a few years ago. What changed in the meantime?
The Senate went from Democratic to Republican control.
It's elections, not the Ralph Neas inside the beltway, that matter most. We sometimes forget or deny that. Neas' anger fit reminds us they do.
Thanks, Ralph Neas.
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