Tell Senators to Stand Firm in
Opposing Extremist Judicial Nominees
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President Bush Opts for Confrontation by
Re-submitting Failed Controversial Judicial Nominees
- On February 14, President Bush sent to the U.S.
Senate for its consideration a list of nominees to serve lifetime
appointments as federal judges. Unfortunately, the President has chosen
to include on this list the names of several nominees already rejected
by the Senate for being driven by ideology, not the law. By re-submitting
the names of these failed nominees, President Bush continues to insist
on confrontation, not consultation, in the judicial nominations process.
The motive is clear: pack the courts with out-of-the-mainstream ideologues.
TAKE ACTION: Urge your senators to stand firm in opposing these controversial nominees.
The American people do not want judges who make, rather than interpret, the law. Rather, they understand the need to have federal judges who will protect the critical rights and protections Americans cherish, including clean air and clean water, privacy in our homes, safety in our workplaces, and equality for all Americans.
However, the records of President Bush's nominees are out of touch with the mainstream:
- Texas Supreme Court Justice Priscilla Owen,
whose nomination to the Fifth Circuit was rejected by the Senate
Judiciary Committee in 2002, took campaign money from Enron
and Halliburton and then ruled in their favor.
- Alabama Attorney General, William Pryor,
whom Bush placed on the Eleventh Circuit through a recess appointment,
raised money from corporations doing business in the state that
he was supposed to be policing. Pryor has called Roe v. Wade
"the worst abomination of constitutional law in our history"
and has argued that the Supreme Court should cut back on the
protections of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the
Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Americans with Disabilities Act,
and the Family and Medical Leave Act.
- California Supreme Court Justice Janice Rogers
Brown, nominated to the DC Circuit, has suggested that the
Social Security system is unconstitutional and accused senior
citizens of "blithely cannibaliz[ing] their grandchildren."
- Attorney Thomas Griffith, nominated to
the DC Circuit, has argued against a key component of Title
IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (which bars sex discrimination
by educational institutions), raising broad concerns about his
approach both to that landmark law and to other critical areas
of civil rights law.
- Idaho lawyer William Myers III, nominated
to the Ninth Circuit, has compared federal laws protecting the
environment to the "tyranny" of King George III over the colonies.
- Department of Defense General Counsel William
Haynes, nominated to the Fourth Circuit, played a central
role in the decision to hold American citizens as enemy combatants
with virtually no access to civilian courts or to counsel, and
the decision to hold detainees at Guantánamo Bay without
the protections of the Geneva Convention.
- Federal district court judge Terrence Boyle,
nominated to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, has a long
history of hostility to civil rights precedents, one-sided support
for states' rights, as well as an unusually high rate of reverse
decisions.
- David McKeague, federal district court
judge in Michigan nominated to the Sixth Circuit, has shown
hostility to civil rights plaintiffs, has narrowed federal protections
for the environment, and ignored the separation of church and
state.
- Attorney Brett Kavanaugh, nominated to
the DC Circuit, has less legal experience than virtually any
Republican or Democratic DC Circuit judicial nominee in more
than 30 years, but a long history of partisan politics that
includes defending the conduct of former independent counsel
Kenneth Starr.
- Richard Griffin, a Michigan state court
of appeals judge nominated to the Sixth Circuit, has shown hostility
to workers and civil rights, as well as the rights of the accused.
- Michigan Court of Appeals judge Henry Saad, nominated to the Sixth Circuit, has displayed a willingness to distort the law and manipulate facts.
TAKE ACTION! tell your senators to oppose the confirmation of these extremist judges.
