Judge Edith Hollan Jones would be a good pick to replace O'Connor
5th Circuit Reagan appointee a no-nonsense moral conservative
July 10, 2005
RenewAmerica staff
Moral conservatives couldn't do any better than Judge Edith Hollan Jones for the Supreme Court seat vacated by retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.
Judge Jones is considered by many the clear choice in fulfilling President George W. Bush's promise of a Constitution-grounded "strict constructionist."
Just 56, Judge Jones has served twenty years as an appellate judge on the New Orleans-based 5th Circuit Court. She was appointed by President Reagan in 1985 at the age of 36.
Judge Jones has openly criticized Roe v. Wade, condemns "modish, untested philosophical notions" imposed by the Supreme Court "that would have left the [Constitution's] Framers aghast," and believes that the Framers' principles of limited government and personal virtue were derived mainly from the Ten Commandments and the Golden Rule. In January 2003, she told a University of Virginia audience that the nation's foundational values were Biblical.
Jones is critical of the legacy of the Warren Court, which she contends "extravagantly assumed the power to dictate new 'rights' not expressly stated in the Constitution and in so doing foisted its philosophical vision on the United States with consequences far beyond the Court's imagining."
Among areas Jones believes the activist Supreme Court has damaged American society are crime and punishment, pornography, family relations, public order, and youth and education.
Concerning the decline of religion, morality, and self-government in American society, Jones told a group of law students at the University of Texas in 2001, "I am hopeful that with the debacles of the twentieth century, we can recover the original intentions of the framers of the Constitution."
Above all, Judge Jones does not worry about pleasing her judicial colleagues, which may be the most important attribute for a Justice replacing O'Connor, who had no guiding philosophy as a judge and changed sides constantly, usually to our nation's detriment. Jones is also impervious to pressure from the media.
Judge Jones is a tough, no-nonsense jurist who knows how to restrain herself when making decisions on politically-charged issues. (Click here to see some of her opinions. Please note the Mississippi parental notification statute. Also note that business groups could not find a better possible Justice.)
Crime victims' groups may be Judge Jones' most valuable ally in a brutal nomination fight. Also in her favor is the fact that her nomination would not "turn back the clock," since President Bush would be replacing a woman with a woman- -an issue that puts Democrats in a bind.
Potential Democratic supporters include Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana (up for re-election in three years, and from a state in Judge Jones' circuit- -it would be tough for her to vote against a Southern woman); Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida (up for re-election next year); Sen. Blanche Lambert Lincoln and Sen. Mark Pryor of Arkansas (a state neighboring Louisiana, which now has a competitive GOP organization); and Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska (one of the nation's two or three most pro-life states).
Judge Jones was born in Philadelphia. Her family later migrated to Texas. She graduated from Cornell in 1971, then attended law school at the University of Texas, graduating in 1974. She worked as a corporate litigator at the large Houston firm of Andrews and Kurth from 1974 until President Reagan appointed her to the federal circuit.
She is married to a Houston lawyer, Woody Jones, and they have three sons.
RenewAmerica staff
Moral conservatives couldn't do any better than Judge Edith Hollan Jones for the Supreme Court seat vacated by retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.Judge Jones is considered by many the clear choice in fulfilling President George W. Bush's promise of a Constitution-grounded "strict constructionist."
Just 56, Judge Jones has served twenty years as an appellate judge on the New Orleans-based 5th Circuit Court. She was appointed by President Reagan in 1985 at the age of 36.
Judge Jones has openly criticized Roe v. Wade, condemns "modish, untested philosophical notions" imposed by the Supreme Court "that would have left the [Constitution's] Framers aghast," and believes that the Framers' principles of limited government and personal virtue were derived mainly from the Ten Commandments and the Golden Rule. In January 2003, she told a University of Virginia audience that the nation's foundational values were Biblical.
Jones is critical of the legacy of the Warren Court, which she contends "extravagantly assumed the power to dictate new 'rights' not expressly stated in the Constitution and in so doing foisted its philosophical vision on the United States with consequences far beyond the Court's imagining."
Among areas Jones believes the activist Supreme Court has damaged American society are crime and punishment, pornography, family relations, public order, and youth and education.
Concerning the decline of religion, morality, and self-government in American society, Jones told a group of law students at the University of Texas in 2001, "I am hopeful that with the debacles of the twentieth century, we can recover the original intentions of the framers of the Constitution."
Above all, Judge Jones does not worry about pleasing her judicial colleagues, which may be the most important attribute for a Justice replacing O'Connor, who had no guiding philosophy as a judge and changed sides constantly, usually to our nation's detriment. Jones is also impervious to pressure from the media.
Judge Jones is a tough, no-nonsense jurist who knows how to restrain herself when making decisions on politically-charged issues. (Click here to see some of her opinions. Please note the Mississippi parental notification statute. Also note that business groups could not find a better possible Justice.)
Crime victims' groups may be Judge Jones' most valuable ally in a brutal nomination fight. Also in her favor is the fact that her nomination would not "turn back the clock," since President Bush would be replacing a woman with a woman
Potential Democratic supporters include Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana (up for re-election in three years, and from a state in Judge Jones' circuit
Judge Jones was born in Philadelphia. Her family later migrated to Texas. She graduated from Cornell in 1971, then attended law school at the University of Texas, graduating in 1974. She worked as a corporate litigator at the large Houston firm of Andrews and Kurth from 1974 until President Reagan appointed her to the federal circuit.
She is married to a Houston lawyer, Woody Jones, and they have three sons.