Originally Posted By itsme From Meet the Press- <a href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9898884/" target="_blank">http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/98 98884/</a> 2 small exerts- "MR. RUSSERT: Judge Alito--this is reported this week in the Los Angeles Times: "As a college senior at Princeton University, Samuel A. Alito Jr. wrote a report that recommended the repeal of laws that made sex between gays a crime and urged new antidiscrimination laws for gays in the workplace. He was writing as a chairman of the 16-member student conference that had been asked to examine the `boundaries of privacy in American society.'" Will you ask him about that? SEN. COBURN: Probably not. I probably won't ask him about anything that has to do with a decision. What I will do is look at his--the decisions he's made, look at the writings, and talk to him about foreign law and utilization of foreign law and making decisions in this country which I think totally violates their oath. I think they can come down on anywhere if they look at the Constitution. What I want is somebody to look at what the founders said, what the Constitution, the laws and the treaties say, and use that to make decisions, not use public opinion, not use political philosophy to make decisions. And I think that--you know, I think we've all said and been in positions that we would want or not want to defend at times, and I don't think that we have to make our decisions based on that. I think what we do is we look for an overall philosophy, as--What is the role of the court? And will he be a judge that will follow what the founders intended to be the role of the court, which is to interpret, not create and expand and make new law? And this part- "MR. RUSSERT: Let me ask you about another decision. And the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence put this out last night. This is from Jim Brady, White House press secretary for Ronald Reagan who was shot in the assassination attempt: "Judge Samuel Alito's dissent in U.S. v. Rybar ...argued that federal restrictions on machine gun possession amounted to an unconstitutional of congressional power under the Commerce Clause. ...his opinion attempted to erect arbitrary hurdles to congressional efforts to reduce the availability of machine guns to the criminal element." These aren't handguns or hunting rifles. These are machine guns. Do you believe that Congress has the right to restrict the sale and transfer of machine guns, or do you think that Judge Alito's correct that Congress should not be interfering in that? SEN. COBURN: No, I think we probably have the right to do it. But I don't think a judge has the right to make that decision. I think Congress--and that brings us back to the whole point. Those aren't decisions judges should be making. Those are decisions that legislators should be making. And that's how we've gotten off on this track is, that we allow judges to start deciding the law, new law, rather than interpret the law that the Congress--what the--what should have happened in that case is this an area that's up for debate and needs to go back to Congress. If Congress decides that, then it should be there. MR. RUSSERT: So Judge Alito was wrong? SEN. COBURN: Sure. MR. RUSSERT: And he was legislating. SEN. COBURN: Sure. MR. RUSSERT: So conservative jurists or strict constructionists can also legislate. SEN. COBURN: Well, I'm not sure that's what he is yet. You've assumed that. I haven't made that decision on what he is or any... MR. RUSSERT: I'm not making any judgment. I'm... SEN. COBURN: Well, you just said, "A strict constructionist can legislate." I'm sure that we all can, and nobody's pure in any way. But I would hope that whatever judge is on the Supreme Court or on the circuit courts or on the appellate branches looks back at the base of what we need to be about, and that's interpreting law and not going beyond that. And it's OK to communicate with Congress, "We think we have an era here--area here that you ought to be working on rather than us working on."
