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By Alexham Posted in Federalist Society | Law | Rudy Giuliani — Comments (3) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

Hey Rudy fans. I will be live blogging Mayor Giuliani's speech to the Federalist Society below the fold starting at 2:30 p.m., but, in the meantime, you can read this article on Rudy's attempt to woo legal conservatives.

Live blogging below the fold

The room is jammed packed, and Solicitor General Ted Olson is getting ready to introduce Rudy.

Olson: "My introduction will be brief. I want you to see for yourself why I hold him in such high esteem. Rudy's three greatest traits are passion, leadership, and character. He led NYC back to pride and prosperity. Rudy's character and compassion helped our nation heal in the wake of 9/11. That is character. This is the man this country needs." (paraphrase)

(Polite applause, and standing ovation)

"Thank you Ted, for your friendship and support. Congrats on the 25th anniversary. It's been a nice run. I appreciate the opportunity to speak to people who share my viewpoint. Our ideas are very similar. Several members of my judicial task force are here as speakers to this convention. My only complaint is that you didn't invite our newest 'federalist' Hillary Clinton, who now believes that the issue of providing illegal aliens should be dealt with on a state-by-state basis. There is a first time for everything, I guess. (laughter)

People want principled leadership. People are moved by ideas. You have kept faith with our founding principles. States exist to preserve freedom. The duty of the judiciary is to say what the law is, not what it should be. The Federalist Society should be proud of its role in preserving and expanding freedom, and promoting the rule of law.

I was in the Reagan Justice Department, and played a small role in turning the tide against judicial liberalism. We've made a lot of progress, but it is not complete. This next election is going to be one of the most important in the history of our country. The next president will appoint roughly 200 federal judges in the next term. I assure you that I will pick judges with the advice of people like Ted Olson and others like him.

We believe in the rule of law, not the personal preferences of judges. For many years, law schools have confused constitutional law with sociology. Like Reagan, I have an 18th Century attitude about law and order. We need judges who embrace originalism. Justices like Scalia, Thomas, Alito, and Roberts. That would be my model.

There are some people who doubt that America has a divine role in the world. I don't. America is very different. There is great diversity. But we are united because of our shared values and ideas. The ideas first proposed in the Declaration of Independence, and then enshrined in the Constitution. American Exceptionalism isn't a debate. It is a reality. We should not be arrogant about that. We should be thankful.

Our disagreements should not be taken for weakness. I remember thinking about that on 9/11. From the first moment, when I saw firsthand the character of our people, I knew that we would prevail as a people. Our democracy should be expanded everywhere in the world.

America is not great because of our central government though. That is a basic distinction between the two political parties. They (dems) want to give more power to the federal government, I don't. We balance our power between the federal government and the States. Isn't it a fact that no other country has ever accomplished what America has accomplished. There is a reason for that. Who has done better than America? Helping people to better themselves. And it all goes back to the genius of our Constitution. But we have to stop imposing the policy preferences of the few through the courts. We need to adhere to principles of federalism, limited government, and judicial restraint. Federalism gives us flexibility to solve problems. Who do you trust? The government or the people? I trust the people."

Rudy is now slamming the dems for the state of the judicial confirmation process, and specifically for how Bork, Thomas, and Estrada were treated.

"Qualification should be the issue for judges. The time for deciding which judicial philosophy will prevail is with the presidential election. Every judicial nominee should be given an up-or-down vote.

The recent right-to-bear arms decision from the D.C. Circuit is a perfect example of my judicial philosophy. It is clearly an individual right, not a right that just pertains to people in militias.

We want judges who exercise common sense and interpret the Constitution as it is written. We need justices and judges who will not impose racial quotas (quotes Chief Justice John Roberts). I cannot figure out where in the Constitution it requires us to take 'under God' out of the pledge of allegiance, or prohibits the display of the Ten Commandments."

(paraphrase)

*I lost the last paragraph of my summary due to a bad Internet connection. Ugh.

*There was one cringe moment for many in the crowd when Rudy said he believed in the "right to choose," "the right of choice," or something to that effect. But in all fairness to Mayor Giuliani, I don't think he was talking about abortion. In context, it seemed pretty clear to me that he was merely referring to personal liberty in a very generalized sense.