Philadelphia Product Liability Lawyer Hopes and Has Reason to Believe That President-elect Obama Will Reshape Federal Judiciary
I have been a practicing personal injury and product liability attorney at Reiff and Bily since 1979. The tenure of President George Bush will be remembered for a extremely conservative and far right movement of the Judiciary. The Judicial system saw appointments of judges with interests broadly sympathetic to financial institutions, pharmaceutical companies and the oil industry narrowly interpreting federally mandated guidelines. The rights of consumers and individuals took a back seat to greedy corporate interests. Injured consumer’s pathways to the courts were blocked at every juncture by federal challenges overriding state laws and individuals rights. Corporate rights and profits superceded individual rights and safety. The landslide victory for President-elect Obama recognizes that voters have had enough and believe that Obama will make the judiciary a high priority because he taught Constitutional law at the University of Chicago and his running mate, Senator Joe Biden formerly chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The American Association for Justice released a report indicating in its last days, the Bush Administration political appointees embarked in an unprecedented campaign to negate the effect of state product liability laws that protect customers and injured workers, in effect granting immunity to irresponsible corporations giving them a “get out of jail free” card. I have written about this in my prior blogs of October 24 and October 31, 2008. The attempts by the Bush administration to deprive individuals of their rights to the courts are unprecedented and, in this lawyer’s belief, endanger the American public in significant ways.
It is important that injured individuals have free access to the court system and that more consumer-friendly judges and judges cognizant of individuals’ rights be appointed. Since the legal pendulum has veered too far right under President Bush, I assume that President-elect Obama, who is cognizant of Constitutional and judicial rights, will seek to undo the damage by appointing more liberal leaning members of the judiciary and just as the legal pendulum is always in motion, it will swing left and, in fact, land where it should be - in the middle – with equal justice for all.
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