At a speech in Davie Monday hosted by the conservative Federalist Society, Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney defended passing over GOP lawyers for judicial appointments when he was governor of Massachusetts.Of the 36 lawyers Romney nominated, 23 were registered Democrats or independents who donated to Democratic candidates or voted in Democratic primaries, according to a Boston Globe analysis that was circulated by rival Fred Thompson. Two appointees supported expanding gay rights.
'Romney's clear affinity for liberal activist Democrats on the bench in Massachusetts doesn't match well with the Federalist Society's belief in judges who `say what the law is, not what it should be,' '' Thompson spokesman Jeff Sadosky said in a written statement....
This revelation, however, did not stop Paul Weyrich, one of the pioneers of the conservative movement, from giving his endorsement to Romney yesterday. Weyrich thus joined Bob Jones III (the son of the founder of the Christian college in South Carolina that bears the family name), former House leader Rep. Dennis Hastert, Mark DeMoss (a prominent evangelical activist from Atlanta), evangelical theologian Wayne Grudem, and John Willke (founder of the National Right to Life Committee) in Romney's camp.
