Clinton loses one nomination to possibly gain another? (OneNewsNow.com)

Clinton loses one nomination to possibly gain another?

Jeff Johnson - OneNewsNow - 6/20/2008 8:25:00 AM

Clinton and Obama together A leading legal journalist believes that if Barack Obama wins the presidency in 2008, he might appoint Hillary Clinton to the U.S. Supreme Court – much to the chagrin of at least one pro-family legal expert. (see related story)

Tony Mauro, Supreme Court correspondent for Legal Times and American Lawyer Media, penned a column for USA Today suggesting the possibility that Obama might put Clinton on the nation's high court. Mat Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel, quips that if Senator Clinton (D-New York) were to be appointed, he would have to clear his throat just to say "Justice Clinton."

"... [T]his particular notion of Hillary Clinton being a justice on the United States Supreme Court is absolutely scary because we know, indeed, that she's not going to follow the rule of law," says Staver. "She's going to be ideologically driven -- and we know which way her ideology leans."

Presidents Lincoln and Dwight Eisenhower used Supreme Court appointments to neutralize political rivals, but Staver says things have changed since then. "Now you're not just simply isolating somebody by putting them on the court," he states. "You're actually extending their legacy beyond your own."

And the legacy of Hillary Clinton is something Staver hopes conservative voters will consider. "That legacy will likely be whether or not we have abortion for the rest of our lives or whether we restore the sanctity of human life," he explains. "Whether we continue to have [traditional] marriage ... [w]hat kind of security, what kind of family values and religious freedom are we going to have in the next couple of generations," lists the attorney.

Those issues, he continues, will be determined in the 2008 presidential election.

Staver says one factor that might discourage Clinton from accepting an appointment to the Supreme Court is that she would be expected to tone down her public political activism in order to maintain an appearance of objectivity on the court. Mauro, in his column, alludes to that aspect of being a Supreme Court justice, saying it "might not appeal to someone like [Hillary] Clinton, who has thrived on the jousting and public spotlight of politics."