Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island was one of the few Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee whom liberal legal scholars said embraced a more progressive judicial philosophy during Sonia Sotomayor's confirmation hearings (subscription). NationalJournal.com's Amy Harder spoke with Whitehouse this morning about the larger battle between conservatives and liberals over the judiciary. Edited excerpts follow.

NJ: Why do you think it is important to embrace a philosophy that counters what the Republicans have put forth?

Whitehouse: I think the backdrop to the Sotomayor confirmation is a larger struggle over the direction and control of the American judiciary. Part of why this interests me is that I've been watching it for years. The Republicans have done this in relatively plain view. They've very clearly made it their express purpose to find and groom conservative judges and put them on the court for the -- again -- often express purpose of influencing decisions and changing the direction of the American judiciary. So, the sort of manipulative hand of the Republican Party in judicial nominations is almost uncontested at this point. They would phrase it in a different way but they'd admit that they're doing that.

That then takes you back to the contest over the Framing. And, I think that on that, they're just plain wrong and it's harmful to the judiciary and harmful to American democracy to let that theory [originalism], which is in many respects a cover story for the strategic plan to influence and ultimately control the judiciary, to gain headway. It's wrong both as history and as justice.

NJ: How do you think Democrats and Sotomayor herself did in countering the philosophy Republicans have embraced and laid out to the American people?

Whitehouse: I don't think that she did. Her job was to present herself as a mainstream judge and to avoid controversy. And, I think she was very successful at achieving those goals, which left it to others to make the larger point.

NJ: And, by others, do you mean...

Whitehouse: Us.

NJ: Did you and your Democratic colleagues do that?

Whitehouse: I think we did OK. We had two jobs to do. One was to try to help confirm Judge Sotomayor. And there's a tendency in support of that purpose to try to sort of lower the temperature in the proceedings, avoid disagreement and just get her through. The second is to try to make the larger point or rebut the Republican judicial theory that supports their efforts to appoint and control the judiciary. They're a little bit in conflict with each other.

This post shows the information which is close to standard.Orange">http://www.orangecountyrealestatebook.com">Orange County Real Estate

Orange County Real Estate

I am happy to find this post very useful for me, as it contains lot of information. I always prefer to read the quality content and this thing I found in you post. Thanks for sharing <a href="http://www.sampleresumes.in/category/entertainment-resumes">entertainment resume</a>