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WASHINGTON – The leading critic of a Hoosier nominee for federal judge has it all wrong, Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., told his colleagues Monday.
Lugar said David Hamilton, President Obama’s first nominee for a federal appeals court post, "has not been a judicial activist and has ruled objectively and within the judicial mainstream."
The allegation was made by Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., who said Hamilton is unqualified, pushes a political agenda from the bench and should be rejected. Sessions is the senior Republican on the Judiciary Committee.
The Senate is expected to vote Tuesday on whether to stop a filibuster on Hamilton’s confirmation. Since June, Republicans have refused to permit a vote on Hamilton’s confirmation. Lugar will vote to end debate and allow the confirmation vote.
In a speech before Lugar’s speech, Sessions said Hamilton’s "approach to the law, I think, is unacceptable."
In a letter he sent to other senators, Sessions said Hamilton is not qualified because he issued a ruling that "prohibited prayers in the Indiana House of Representatives that expressly mentioned Jesus Christ…yet he allowed prayers which mentioned Allah."
Sessions said lawyers rated Hamilton one of the most lenient in sentencing criminals, including requesting clemency for a convicted child pornographer.
Sessions also said Hamilton "succeeded in blocking the enforcement of an Indiana informed consent law (for women trying to obtain an abortion) for seven years."
He said the ruling "give every indication that Judge Hamilton abused his lifetime appointment to block the carrying out of a state law for seven years, depriving the people of Indiana of their domestic and constitutional rights until being slapped down by the appellate courts."
In an 18-minute speech, Lugar said each of Sessions’ allegations is wrong.
For instance, he said, Sessions’ description of Hamilton’s prayer ruling was misstated.
"Hamilton did not say, as some suggest, that prayers in the Indiana legislature to ‘Allah’ as the Muslim deity were permissible while prayers to Jesus Christ were not," Lugar said. "He in fact said that using Allah as a generic reference to the deity could theoretically be permissible in non-sectarian prayer, as would be true of using the word for God in any language. Judge Hamilton was clear that legislative prayer advancing the religion of Islam would be prohibited."
Lugar said it’s clear that Hamilton’s ruling is in line with the Supreme Court and that the ruling was not, as Session claimed, overturned.
Lugar said the appeals court’s reversal had nothing to do with Hamilton’s logic, but ruled the people who sued should be allowed to challenge the General Assembly’s practice.
Lugar said Hamilton does not have a reputation as issuing light sentences, and Sessions’ example of the child pornographer was misstated.
He said Hamilton imposed the 15-year sentence required by sentencing guidelines, Lugar said, "even though he believed it excessive in the circumstances. Doing what the law requires even when a judge may personally disagree is a textbook example of judicial restraint."
In other cases, Lugar said, "Hamilton has imposed rigorous sentences for child pornography as long as 100 years."
Lugar said he didn’t agree with Hamilton’s ruling in the abortion case,
"but his actions were defensible in the context of what lower courts must do in the field of abortion law jurisprudence."
He added that Sessions’ claim that Hamilton blocked enforcement of the notification law for seven years "unfairly ignores that the delay was due in very large part to litigation decisions made by the State of Indiana itself.... The notion that Judge Hamilton was in any way trying personally to delay the case, whether based on his personal views on any issue or for any other reason, is unfounded."
Lugar said political disputes should be resolved by the legislative and executive branches, and that’s why confirmation decisions shouldn’t be based on partisan considerations.
Lugar said he has known Hamilton since he was a child and believes he "is superbly qualified."
sylviasmith@jg.net
