The First Monday in October

Today is the first Monday in October, the traditional beginning of the new U.S. Supreme Court term. This also happens to be an election year.
 
Those are not unrelated items.
 
In the blur of presidential politics, don't forget about judges as an election issue. While the candidates work overtime to gain your vote, liberals in the U.S. Senate have worked overtime to obstruct President Bush's judges, especially nominees to the important federal appeals courts, second in importance only to the Supreme Court.
 
Bush has 10 Court of Appeals nominees waiting in vain for the Democrat-controlled Senate Judiciary Committee to show them the courtesy of a hearing and a vote. Don't hold your breath — most have been waiting over a year. Senate liberals have so successfully obstructed appellate court nominees that it looks like Bush, in his last two years in office, will only get two-thirds the number of such judges confirmed that President Clinton did during the same time period, despite promises from Democratic leadership to meet the historical averages.
 
What Senate liberals are stalling for is the potential opportunity, come January, to fill the courts with Ruth Bader Ginsburg-type judges who will continue to frustrate efforts to pass pro-life, pro-family legislation; and who will redefine marriage and redraft our constitutional rights using foreign court decisions that have nothing to do with our Constitution or laws.
 
Elections matter when it comes to judges. Presidents nominate federal judges, and senators control their destiny. But we, the voters, are the ultimate gatekeepers — we decide who the deciders will be.
 
And about that Supreme Court. Justice Stevens is 88 years old; six of the nine justices are 68 or older. The next president will have the opportunity to appoint at least two justices, possibly more. Who nominates those justices, and whether we have a Senate that provides "advice and consent" or "obstruct and delay," is up to us on Election Day. Issues of life, family, religious liberty, free speech, national security and private property are at stake.
 
Judges are important. The right kind of judges is crucial. Your vote matters.