Leader Of Conservative Opposition To Sotomayor Was Nailed For Hacking And Spying On Senate Dems
Manuel Miranda is back!
The New York Times reports that a coalition of heavyweight conservative groups has signed a letter pressuring Senate Republicans to filibuster Sonia Sotomayor. The organizer of the pressure campaign — which has angered Senate GOP leaders — is identified as one Manuel Miranda, whom the paper only describes as a “former adviser on judicial issues to former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist.”
There’s a bit more to Manuel Miranda than that, however. Miranda, as longtime Congressional insiders will recall, was the GOP Senate staffer who was nailed in 2004 for hacking into the computers of Senate Dems and downloading thousands of documents relating to the strategies of Dem Senators on judicial nominations.
Miranda’s scheme — widely referred to as “Memogate” — was a big deal. A Senate probe found that many of the swiped files had been systematically downloaded “from folders belonging to Democratic staff,” with some leaked to friendly reporters. Miranda resigned, and a Washington Post editorial denounced his “political spying operation” that indicated “how low the nominations process has sunk.”
Miranda’s operation opened a rift between Republicans and conservatives. While some GOP Senators denounced the effort — Orrin Hatch pronounced himself “mortified” — conservative groups on a war footing over judicial nominations rushed to defend him.
Now Miranda is creating a similar rift between GOP Senators and conservatives as he reemerges as a leading public face of conservative groups locked in the judicial nomination fight of the moment. The more things change…
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Once a scumbag; always a scumbag.
A Meese alumni and more…
http://www.mirandafund.com/
Glad to see you’ve picked up on this one, greg.
Heh. That’s great, Bernie. Thanks. This one is gonna be fun…
If I were Democrats I would be trying my best to do what I could to encourage Miranda without leaving any fingerprints. The best possible outcome is that he creates a rift so big in the GOP that it never heals.
Those disgraced rightwingers always seem to land on their feet, don’t they? They never seem to pay a price for their crimes and illegal activity. All of that failing upward of rightwing rogues and criminals explains a lot, doesn’t it?
That is quite a site find, Bernie. I see it’s dated on the Feast of the Epiphany. I’m thinking there was an epiphany about type size. For your purposes, Greg, this guy looks almost too good to be true. His important work in ethics is particularly notable.
Thanks for digging this up. I knew I felt a shiver up my spine when I read that name yesterday, but I couldn’t place why….
@James – it’s called wingnut welfare. It’s given out by AEI, Hudson, outfits like that. The poster boy is Jonah Goldberg. In the GOP, the stupid is fully funded.
This is why I check your blog regularly each day… thanks for the scoop Greg!
For added wingnutty richness, note that Miranda’s c. v. also includes the organization of something called the “National Coalition to End Judicial Filibusters”: http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Manuel_Miranda
It seems Miranda tried to infer that Mitch McConnell is gay.
.
http://instaputz.blogspot.com/2009/06/pass-popcorn.html
He didn’t hack anything. The Democrats left their docs on an open shared sever. Greg, quit being a total hack and do your homework for once.
David Kernell, you better call Greg Sergent!
LOL “What happened was that there was a glitch in the congressional computer software” http://rsmccain.blogspot.com/2009/06/cheap-shot-at-sotomayors-opposition.html
But officer, the till was open when I got there! How can you blame me for grabbing a couple C-notes?
Let’s also not forget “Mano-a-Mano” Miranda’s wish to go bare knuckles with Dick Durbin. http://www.rollcall.com/issues/51_120/hoh/13265-1.html?type=printer_friendly
My favorite quote, “In arguing for a filibuster — which Senate Republicans have already said is unlikely — Miranda and other conservatives appear to be reversing course: When Democrats were in the minority, they demanded that judicial nominees of George W. Bush get up-or-down votes on the Senate floor. ” – wow – the GOP being hypocritical???? Who would have thought.
“But officer, the till was open when I got there! How can you blame me for grabbing a couple C-notes?”
Democrat condemn Sarah Palin hacker, NOT!!! You guys are the biggest hypocrites.
It wasn’t an *open* server it was a *shared* server. In the past, judiciary staffers tended to be honest and law-abiding, working in good faith to do the country’s business. When the bushies came, he brought along the criminals and rogues of the extreme right wing who would stop at nothing, including hacking and stealing private memos, to advance their agenda.
alan at 7:36 called it right – I had the misfortune of knowing manny miranda in college – once a scumbag, always a scumbag
When the bushies came, he brought along the criminals and rogues of the extreme right wing who would stop at nothing, including hacking and stealing private memos, to advance their agenda.
David Kernell, Mr. Obama has a special prize for you.
Hack or no hack (as if Dems don’t spy, or have CREW, PAW or CAP spy for them), what the Dems did to Estrada was shameful, undemocratic, and the height of hypocrisy. Only minorities maleable to the Schumer/Kennedy filibuster mafia need apply. Theres only one reason for the Estrada hit, and Greg, of all people, knows it.
When you guys act “shocked, shocked” its comical.
Manuel Miranda performed a public service by blowing the whistle on Senate Democrats who cynically filibustered Miguel Estrada, not because he was unqualified to be an appeals court judge, but because they feared the elevation of a Hispanic conservative to the Supreme Court. Miranda did not “hack” the system; the Democrat staffers left their files unlocked on a public server. If what he did was as bad as you say, why was he never charged, convicted, and disbarred?
The Democrats’ strategy memos were no different from a trade secret: You are responsible for securing your confidential trade secrets. If a competitor manages to get hold of them via dumpster diving or any other legal method (as opposed to illegal methods such as breach of NDA), well it’s your own damn fault.
Just walked by a co-worker’s desk; Outlook was open on her desktop. Ethics, smethics. Her e-mails are fair game! For one thing, she’s a known hypocrite. Also, if she wanted them protected, she shoulda put a door on her cubicle.
Yes, Democrats were big fat hypocrites when they got up on their hind legs and brayed about being “mortified” by Miranda’s “improper, unethical, and simply unacceptable breach of confidential files.”
Oh, wait. That was Orrin Hatch who said that. Never mind.
If I was caught circumventing the security of an average Joe’s computer, let alone government systems, I would very likely spend a long time in Jail. Computer Crime penalties are Extremely draconian and extremely broad in definition. Cases have been made against people using unsecured wifi without permission in the past.
It’s only reason we don’t have significantly more computer criminals in prison is because it’s generally difficult to prove an intrusion. Most systems don’t even notice an intrusion unless it’s disruptive.
It’s amazing how little the political class has to fear from the law.
As I recall, this guys defenders claimed the Dems had unsecured shares on the network so.. it like wasn’t his fault he stole the documents. That makes zero difference in the eyes of the law.. any more than an open garage door as an excuse for stealing someone’s lawn mower.
mwl, you have no idea what you’re talking about.
There are laws against “unauthorized access to computer systems”. Poor security is NOT an excuse for entering a computer system without authorization. It’s a crime.. black and white. It’s an extremely serious crime that would have warranted prison time had it been anyone else [outside the beltway].
As for Miguel Estrada, the reason he was opposed was because he was appointed to a federal court of appeals position with exactly ZERO judicial experience. He had a very impressive educational background and had clerked for at least two judges but Bush attempted to appoint someone with no time Behind the bench to a very power position. 4 of our current SCOTUS were on that bench.
ffakr FAIL: “…exactly ZERO judicial experience.”
From 1990 until 1992, Estrada served as Assistant U.S. Attorney and Deputy Chief of the Appellate Section, U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York. In 1992, he joined the United States Department of Justice as an Assistant to the Solicitor General for the Clinton Administration. In those capacities, Estrada represented the government in numerous jury trials and in many appeals before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
You do know prosecutors sit on the opposite side of the bench as judges, right?
ffakr, unfortunately for you I do know what I’m talking about. Miranda was not charged because he was authorized to access the computer in question. It was a shared server to which all Judiciary Committee staff had access, both Democrat and Republican. If Miranda had committed a crime, then he would have been indicted and convicted. As for ethics, since when has that had anything to do with the practice of politics? How ethical was the precedent-setting filibuster of Estrada’s nomination for cynical political reasons?
This is the LOL money quote: “If Miranda had committed a crime, then he would have been indicted and convicted.” You gotta be kidding. Virtually nobody in the government gets indicted and convicted. If they do, they get commuted/pardoned. Look at all the torture trials we should have, Libby, etc. Unfortunately, in our current setup, the idea is that “If the gumment does it, it’s legal.”
” Allahpundit argues that it doesn’t matter at all that the same Senators who are now outraged about Sonia Sotomayor’s “wise Latina” speech mysteriously didn’t care about it the first time around. He claims the real takeaway is that it casts doubt on the White House claim that she misspoke. For the record, I linked to others making that argument, too.”
Ok, I’m saying this again:
how many judges do y’all know? There is not a human being on this earth who can so much as sign their name without it being informed by who they are and the sum of their experience.
That’s all she said.
I did appeals when I practiced law. I also wrote opinions for the state Court of Appeals in Dallas as a staff attorney. You can always tell which judge wrote which opinion, just like you can tell which lawyer wrote which brief. Thinking is thinking and you can only use what you have in your head to do it. Writing is writing.
Now – this country has courts overflowing with White Male Christian judgers – for 300 years y’all ran every damn thing. You bet there is a different way of seeing things – a Hispanic woman has a different experience than the average over-privileged white male.
Deal with it.
Our country is not predominantly White Male Christian any more and our courts should reflect different experiences and most especially, the SCOTUS.
All you outraged jackasses don’t know the first thing about being a judge, or the 2d, or the 3d, and so on and so on.
Hey Greg – the censor eased up. Thank your people for me, please.
“Observer23 | June 3rd, 2009 at 03:15 pm
This is the LOL money quote: “If Miranda had committed a crime, then he would have been indicted and convicted.” ”
Word. ROFLMAO
Yeah, everyone who commits a crime is indicted for it and everyone who is indicted for a crime committed it.
[falling sideways out of chair laughing]
Well said, Tena. As for mwl, how can you defend Miranda while dismissing ethical concerns about this behavior? You say it’s because democrats filibustered Estrada for “cynical political reasons” but Estrada wasn’t a judge and wouldn’t answer their questions. Some conservatives seem to be stretching to find reasons to oppose a good candidate. Thank goodness, it seems other Republicans can see that Sotomayor is an excellent nominee
Actually, friends, you can read all about this on my website’s links. The law and the ethics, and something new for you, the facts. All there. Oh, and by the way, when the man came to the door to examine me for my security clearance before shipping out to Iraq for the State Department, I asked him to call Dick Durbin and a few others and here all the trash talk you lemmings are repeating. I got my clearance pretty quickly. Hmmm. Could it be?….
It was smart of Republicans to pick a hatchet-man with Hispanic surname.
Nah, just kidding. I like to stir the pot once in a great while…