Lugar defends Hamilton as judicial pick [View All]

[usregimechange]

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Richard Lugar defended Indiana Judge David Hamilton on Monday against criticism from fellow GOP senators that Hamilton is outside the mainstream.

The Senate is expected to vote Tuesday on whether to prevent a GOP filibuster of President Barack Obama's nomination of Hamilton to the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The court is the last stop before the Supreme Court for cases from Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin.

Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, the top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said Hamilton's nomination should be stopped because he's used his position as a federal district judge “to drive a political agenda.”

But Lugar, R-Ind., said a closer look at Hamilton's record shows he has not been a judicial activist and “has ruled objectively and within the judicial mainstream.”

http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20091116/NEWS02/911160361/1025/rss02