The Ninth Circuit panel that will hear the Prop 8 appeal (December 6 at 10:00 a.m Pacific time) will consist of Stephen Reinhardt, Michael D. Hawkins, and N. Randy Smith, per an announcement this morning. And not surprisingly, social conservatives are already starting to worry/spin the “judicial activist” meme.
This from Ed Whelan:
Reinhardt (appointed by President Carter in 1980) may well be the most aggressive liberal judicial activist in the nation—and the most reversed judge in history. Hawkins, a 1994 Clinton appointee, is also regularly on the Left on the Ninth Circuit. Smith, who was appointed by President George W. Bush in 2007, is much more of a judicial conservative.
With two hard-core liberals, the panel is a fairly typical Ninth Circuit draw—which is to say, a bad one for supporters of Prop 8.
ED WHELAN: Bad Ninth Circuit Panel for Prop 8 Appeal [NRO]
Of course the truly bad draw for supporters of Prop 8: Supporting Prop 8 at all! Every other “win” or “loss” is but a contrivance.
