News > May 7, 2008

By Molly Nevola | Senior writer

Crowds flocked to Wait Chapel early on the morning of May 6 for a special primary day visit from the presumptive Republican nominee for President of the United States, Sen. John McCain.

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McCain delivers a speech May 6 in Wait Chapel.` (Brian Williams/Old Gold & Black)

With national media in tow, the Arizona Senator delivered a policy address on the proper role of the judiciary, criticizing his Democratic counterparts for their support of "judicial activism."

Lines on the quad, where security was tight, began to form as early as 6 a.m.

Darrin Gamradt, a third-year law student at the university, said that he arrived at 6:20 a.m. to claim a spot in line. “I think it’s a unique opportunity to see the likely next president of the United States here on campus,” he said.

The event drew students, faculty, staff and local community members, including university President Emeritus Thomas K. Hearn Jr.

It began promptly at 10 a.m.

North Carolina's junior U.S. Senator and university alumnus Richard Burr, '78, began by thanking the university and calling this fall's election one of the most important of his life.

After addressing McCain as a colleague, friend and the next president of the United States, Burr gave the floor to Ted Olson, former U.S. Solicitor General under George W. Bush and assistant Attorney General under Reagan.

Olson introduced McCain as a "genuine American hero" who never fails to exhibit qualities of patriotism, character, conservatism and integrity.

He cited P.J. O’Rourke, who wrote in the Weekly Standard of McCain as a man of honor with a reverence for traditions.

“This election is not about symbols of dedication to our country and its values, it is about real commitment, real service, and real achievement, and that is John McCain’s life,” Olson said.

After these brief remarks, the Senator himself walked on stage, to the enthusiastic welcome of the crowd, and approached the podium.

“The framers of our Constitution had a knack for coming right to the point, and it shows in the 35-word oath that ends with a pledge to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution itself,” McCain said.

He said that for the chief executive, the duties and boundaries of the Constitution are “not merely guidelines to be observed when it is convenient and loosely interpreted when it isn’t.”

“The clear powers defined by our Constitution, and the clear limits of power, lose nothing of their relevance with time, because the dangers they guard against are found in every time,” he said.

Reading a prepared speech from a teleprompter, McCain began describing how he would pick nominees to serve on the federal and Supreme courts, the function of which he said has become "one of the defining issues of this presidential election."

“We would nominate judges of a different kind, a different caliber, a different understanding of judicial authority and its limits,” he said.

The moral authority of our judiciary, McCain argued, quickly vanishes when a court presumes to make a law instead of apply it.

McCain referred to various Supreme Court cases in 2005, such as an aggravated murder case in Missouri and the Susette Kelo case, both of which, according to McCain, resulted in opinions resting “evolving standards of decency.”

McCain called such "judicial activism" an undemocratic abuse of power.

McCain then moved on to decry the Senate's approach to confirming nominees to the Supreme Court.

“Always hanging in the air over these tense confirmation battles is the suspicion that maybe, just maybe, a nominee for the Court will dare to be faithful to the clear intentions of the Framers and to the actual meaning of the Constitution,” he said.

For the first time in his speech, McCain then mentioned his potential opponents, Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, citing their opposition the confirmation of now-Chief Justice John Roberts to the Court in 2005.

He criticized Obama in particular. The leading democratic candidate would win a 14-point victory over Clinton in North Carolina's primary that day.

“Senator Obama's standards proved too lofty a standard for a nominee who was brilliant, fair-minded, and learned in the law, a nominee of clear rectitude who had proved more than the equal of any lawyer on the Judiciary Committee, and who today is respected by all as the Chief Justice of the United States,” McCain said.

McCain asserted that even he voted for the confirmation of Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Steven Breyer due to their qualifications, for it would have been “petty, partisan and disingenuous to insist otherwise.”

To close the speech, McCain looked to the future, proclaiming his intentions to confirm qualified men and women to the Supreme Court, who understand the limits of both judicial power and federal power.

“My commitment to you and to all the American people is to help restore the standards and spirit that give the judicial branch its place of honor in our government,” he said.

McCain’s closing words were met with resounding applause from the audience and a standing ovation, perhaps fueled by the Demon Deacon fight song played through speakers as the Senator walked off stage. Audience members gathered to the front of the chapel in hopes to shake McCain’s hand, one of which was senior undergraduate William Warren.

Warren said he heard McCain was coming weeks prior and sent some emails in hopes of receiving a chance to meet the senator. A political science major from Atlanta, Warren is a notable cartoonist for the campus newspaper and decided to present McCain with his very own personal cartoon, thanking him for his visit.

“His speech was incredible – it made me want to vote for him even more,” Warren said.

Seth Williford, a freshman from Wilson, NC, and social chair of the College Republicans, said that it was a real pleasure to host McCain.

“It was a resounding success—the crowd loved having him here,” he said.