A goofy judicial nominee: More unwanted transformational change

What William A. Jacobson is calling the "most important judicial nomination you never heard of" is set for this afternoon. The Providence Journal reports on the Rhode Island version of Chicago-style politics.

A major business group has stepped up its opposition to President Obama’s nomination of John J. McConnell Jr. to the U.S. District Court in Rhode Island, calling him "unfit to serve this lifetime appointment to the federal bench."

On the eve of the Senate Judiciary Committee’s debate on the McConnell nomination, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce alerted senators that their votes on whether to seat him could become part of the organization’s influential scorecard on members of Congress.

"Mr. McConnell's actions during his career as a personal injury lawyer and past statements demonstrate his disregard for the rule of law, an activist judicial philosophy and obvious bias against businesses," R. Bruce Josten, the Chamber's chief lobbyist, said in a letter Tuesday to committee members that was released Wednesday morning....

The consideration of McConnell's nomination is playing out against a partisan backdrop. The Providence lawyer, 51, is a longtime state Democratic official, a major contributor to the party and a leading plaintiffs' lawyer. He has given more than $432,000 to federal election campaigns over the years, including those of Whitehouse and Jack Reed. That appears to make him the top donor to federal campaigns among the nearly 1,500 nominees to U.S. courts since 1988. Only three other nominees during those years appear to have given as much as $100,000, according to a Providence Journal analysis of federal contributions. McConnell is also a major Rhode Island philanthropist.

Here's what the Washington Times wrote last month about McConnell:

Before the Rhode Island Supreme Court squashed his suit, Mr. McConnell pushed the theory that lead-paint manufacturers from decades ago should be held liable for lead poisoning in today's children even if it could not be shown the companies had made the paint that caused the illnesses. As the Providence Journal explained, this theory of Mr. McConnell's "violated basic precepts of law crucial to a just society."

More unwanted transformational change from our former constitutional law professor of a president. We have 30 more months of this insanity left.

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