David Sentelle: How One Right-Wing Judge Can be a Wrecking Ball to the Constitution

[Demeter]

Part 1: http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/editorblog/001

Part 2: http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/editorblog/002

Part 3: http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/editorblog/003

Part 4: http://www.buzzflash.com/articles/editorblog/004

Ever since reading "The Hunting of the President" by Joe Conason and Gene Lyons, BuzzFlash has been fascinated by the impact one Reagan federal appointee has had on the course of this nation's political history.

His name is David Sentelle -- and he is still doing damage as was revealed by a ruling just a short time ago upholding the Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld travesty of justice: military tribunals in Guantanamo for detainees.

Sentelle has had a destructive impact on democracy and justice without parallel, considering his longevity on the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington.

We have called David Sentelle the Zelig of partisan GOP judges...Over the next couple of postings, we will be talking a bit more about Sentelle (who we have covered in the past on BuzzFlash). But for the moment, let's recap just three of his key party line judicial decisions:

He was a key vote in the appellate panel that overturned the felony conviction of
Oliver North and John Poindexter for their roles in the illegal Iran-Contra operation.

He was the judge who appointed Ken Starr to oversee the effort to impeach Bill Clinton.
William Rehnquist, then Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, had placed Sentelle as the judge
overseeing the Clinton special prosecutor. When Robert Fiske, a respected non-partisan
prosecutor, was ready to exonerate the Clintons, Jesse Helms stepped in and asked Sentelle --
his protege -- to get rid of Fisk and appoint the GOP lapdog, Ken Starr, to take over the
Republican hit job on Bill Clinton. Sentelle did as he was told.

When a special prosecutor was needed to investigate if George Herbert Walker Bush had abused
his office by having the State Department search through Bill Clinton's passport application
during the 1992 campaign, Sentelle appointed the partisan Republican former prosecutor Joseph
DiGenova (husband and law partner of the FOX talking point attorney, Victoria Toensing).
DiGenova's job was, we assume, to clear Poppy Bush and everyone on his staff of any
improprieties. Case Closed.....

[tom_paine]

1. One of many Bushie Made Guys masquerading as judges.

Yes, the history of the corruption goes back much further than that, to the old Iran-Contra days at the very least.

I wil say this: our judiciary in spite of all that has been by far the most resilient of the branches...even some Bushies occasionally act as judges if their Masters' interests are not directly at stake.

Hooray.

[Demeter]

2. Kick for Unbelievability