Conservative, Meet Liberal

Barack Obama's campaign responds to McCain's speech on judges:

“The Straight Talk Express took another sharp right turn today as John McCain promised his conservative base four more years of out-of-touch judges that would threaten a woman’s right to choose, gut the campaign finance reform that bears his own name, and trample the rights and interests of the American people. Barack Obama has always believed that our courts should stand up for social and economic justice, and what’s truly elitist is to appoint judges who will protect the powerful and leave ordinary Americans to fend for themselves.”

So: it seems that neither Barack Obama nor John McCain is willing to broaden the debate about judges and the judiciary in this country.

BTW: here's the list of McCain's Justice Advisory Panel. As with his economic policy team, this seems to be a real grab-bag approach. It's a combination of social conservatives, Catholic natural law types, law-and-order people, and libertarians. Any list that includes both Robert George and Eugene Volokh is necessarily eclectic.

Chairs Of The Justice Advisory Committee:
• Theodore B. Olson -- former Solicitor General of the United States
• Senator Sam Brownback -- United States Senator, Kansas
Steering Committee
• Michael Abramowicz -- Professor of Law, George Washington University Law School
• Hon. William P. Barr -- former Attorney General of the United States
• Gerard V. Bradley -- Professor of Law, Notre Dame Law School
• Rachel Brand -- former Assistant Attorney General for Office of Legal Policy – Ex-Bushie, much involved in the contentious debates and controversies of the time.
• Steven Calabresi -- George C. Dix Professor of Law, Northwestern University School of Law
• Dean Ronald A. Cass -- Chairman, Center for the Rule of Law; Dean Emeritus, Boston University School of Law
• Senator Daniel Coats -- former United States Senator, Indiana –
• Manus M. Cooney -- former Chief Counsel and Staff Director, U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary
• Charles J. Cooper -- former Assistant Attorney General, Office of Legal Counsel
• Arthur B. Culvahouse, Jr. -- former White House Counsel to President Ronald Reagan
• Carol E. Dinkins -- Partner, Vinson & Elkins
• John F. Duffy -- Oswald Symister Colclough Research Professor of Law, George Washington University Law School
• Miguel A. Estrada -- former Assistant to the Solicitor General of the United States
• Charles Fried -- Beneficial Profes sor of Law, Harvard Law School; former Solicitor General of the United States
• Sandra S. Froman -- Arizona attorney
• Richard W. Garnett -- Professor of Law, Notre Dame Law School
• Robert P. George -- McCormick Professor of Jurisprudence, Princeton University
• Senator Lindsey Graham -- United States Senator, South Carolina
• Senator Phil Gramm -- former United States Senator, Texas
• Governor Frank Keating -- former Governor of Oklahoma
• Orin S. Kerr -- Professor, George Washington Universit y Law School
• Senator Jon Kyl -- United States Senator, Arizona
• Christopher Landau -- Partner, Kirkland & Ellis LLP
• Senator Trent Lott -- former United States Senator, Mississippi
• Randy Mastro -- former Deputy Mayor of New York City
• John O. McGinnis -- Professor of Law, Northwestern University School of Law
• Maureen E. Mahoney -- former Deputy Solicitor General of the Unites States
• Thomas W. Merrill -- Charles Keller Beekman Professor, Columbia Law School
• Marc L. Mukasey -- Partner, Bracewell & Giuliani LLP ; former assistant U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York
• Caleb Nelson -- Professor of Law, University of Virginia School of Law
• Eileen J. O'Connor -- former Assistant Attorney General, Tax Division, U.S. Department of Justice
• Hon. Thomas R. Phillips -- former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Texas
• Edward R. Reines -- Partner, Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP
• Kristi L. Remington -- former Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Legal Policy
• Professor Daniel B. Rodriguez -- Minerva House Drysdale Regents Chair in Law, The University of Texas at Austin Scho ol of Law
• Nicholas Quinn Rosenkranz -- Associate Professor of Law, Georgetown University Law Center
• Ronald D. Rotunda -- University Professor and Professor of Law, George Mason University
• Cathy Cleaver Ruse -- Senior Fellow for Legal Studies at the Family Research Council; Governor, Ave Maria School of Law
• Peter B. Rutledge -- Associate Professor of Law, University of Georgia School of Law
• Jon A. Sale -- former federal prosecutor for NY and Miami; former law professor, Nova Southeastern and St. Thomas
• John Smietanka -- former U.S. attorney
• Stephen F. Smith -- Professor of Law, John V. Ray Research Professor, University of Virginia School of Law
• George J. Terwilliger, III -- former Deputy Attorney General of the United States
• Senator Fred Thompson -- former United States Senator, Tennessee
• Eugene Volokh -- Gary T. Swartz Professor of Law, UCLA School of Law – Volokh Conspirator number one!
• Dan K. Webb -- Chairman, Winston & Strawn; former U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois