Subject: Bad Appointments: Larry, in no other way will the debilitating effects of the Bush administration on our republic be more pernicious and persistent than his appointments to the judiciary. U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Thomas Griffith finds that "there is no fundamental right 'deeply rooted in this nation's history and tradition' of access to experimental drugs for the terminally ill." Griffith, a recent Bush appointee, could be spouting inanities like this from his bench for another 20 years. And Bush's Supreme Court went along by refusing to hear the case. This is yet another instance of compassionate conservatives killing people in order to protect them. Iraq comes to mind. What conservatives on the courts refuse to understand is that the Bill of Rights is a list of rights that the citizens grant to the government, not vice versa. This distinction is more than just academic. By getting it wrong, conservatives have brought us to the brink of fascism. Griffith should have ruled that there is no fundamental right of the government to deny potentially lifesaving treatment to dying patients. People who might be saved by drugs may die needlessly. Steve W