Thursday, July 28, 2005

The Honorable Arlen Specter, Chairman and

The Honorable Patrick Leahy, Ranking Minority Member

United States Senate

Committee on the Judiciary

224 Dirksen Senate Office Building

Washington, DC 20510

Dear Chairman and Ranking Members of the Senate Committee on the Judiciary,

President of All American’s?

With the resignation of Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor President Bush has an opportunity to prove he is a “uniter [sic] not a divider”. He can choose to pick an extreme right wing ideologue and throw the Senate into an open war or he can choose to appoint a right leaning centrist and get a smooth confirmation process. I am hoping he surprises the nation by going the latter route, but his track record is dismal on this point. Almost every chance he has had to bring the country together he has chosen to widen the political chasm that is tearing this nation apart.

It is easy to anticipate the Conservative rhetoric if he goes with ideology over what is best for the country. They will whine that their radical candidate deserves an up or down vote and that the Democrats are obstructionist. Democrats will have no choice but to fight to keep any extremist off the court.

The truth will of course be that it is the President who will be at fault if there is a confirmation war. It is his choice, will he do what is best for our country or will he further divide the nation?

Sincerely,

Steve McGourty