Do Elections Matter?

From the Corner:

At the redoubtable Powerline, Paul Mirengoff observes that Judges Alice Batchelder and Julia Smith Gibbons, the two 6th Circuit jurists in the majority for reversing the terribly reasoned lower court decision of Judge Anna Diggs Taylor (a President Jimmy Carter appointee) invalidating the NSA program, were placed on the federal bench by President Ronald Reagan, and elevated to the Court of Appeals by, respectively, the first and second President Bush.

Judge Ronald Gilman, the dissenter who would have upheld Judge Taylor's decision killing the program, is an appointee of President Bill Clinton.

Not that elections matter or anything ...

I remember vividly that during the election of 2000, one of my main concerns was that George W. Bush had to win if for no other reason than whoever won would no doubt replace one or even two Supreme Court justices during his term...not to mention lower court judges such as the ones mentioned above. I think that is an ongoing concern in 2008, as Anthony Kennedy and Ruth Buzzy Ginsberg will probably retire during the next term. Say what you will about President Bush, he has made a huge difference in the makeup of the Supreme Court, and the decisions coming from it. We learned that in the past couple of weeks with their rulings. Keep that in mind during the campaign.