AU Students

As president, one of Barack Obama’s most important tasks is making appointments to the federal courts.

The Senate has a role to play too. They are to “advise and consent.” If a judicial appointee is deemed unqualified, a majority of the Senate can vote him or her down.

Obama nominated Sonia Sotomayor to the U.S. Supreme Court, and the Senate performed its role. Sotomayor, who had a long record of judicial service, now sits on the nation’s top bench.

I guess it’s a little impertinent for me to issue a report card for President Barack Obama on his performance during his first 100 days in office. I’m not his teacher, and he’s not my student.

But what the heck? It’s a free country and everyone else is doing it. So here goes.

I’m focusing on issues with church-state implications. Somebody else can tackle the other topics.

Over the past few years, Americans United has sparred with Gordon James Klingenschmitt, a former Navy chaplain with a penchant for Religious Right grandstanding.

U.S. District Judge David Hamilton has been nominated by President Barack Obama to a seat on the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and will face the Senate Judiciary Committee tomorrow. The Religious Right smear machine is operating on full power.