Judicial Nominees: One Step Closer to Catastrophe
The U.S. Senate Judiciary committee, on a straight party-line vote, agreed to send two controversial appellate court nominees to the Senate floor for a confirmation vote: Janice Rogers Brown for U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and Priscilla Owen for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
This vote was no routine matter. In fact, by this simple action of approving two judges who were filibustered in the prior administration, the Republicans signaled the launch of their “nuclear option” plan.
Any pretense of bipartisanship was jettisoned by this divisive action. Not satisfied with a more than 95 percent confirmation rate, Senate Republicans made it clear that they will only be satisfied with a complete takeover of the judiciary. The concepts of “advice and consent” and “checks and balances” are viewed as nothing more than roadblocks to complete domination of all three branches of the government.
Action Needed:
Take action by signing NOW’s petition supporting the filibuster.
Background:
The National Organization for Women is not pleased to oppose the elevation of two women to the highest courts of the land. Key to our mission is achieving parity for women in all seats of decision-making power, in government and out. However, there is a good reason why we are the National Organization for Women and not the National Organization of Women. Our primary focus, above all else, is to work to achieve equality and justice for women. Unfortunately, these two women, Priscilla Owen and Janice Rogers Brown, have embraced with zeal judicial philosophies that do not respect women’s rights, consumer rights, environmental rights or minority rights.
Priscilla Owen
In her two previous hearings before the Judiciary Committee, Priscilla Owen defended her activist and extremist record as a justice on the Texas Supreme Court. Her punitive views about the abortion rights of young women compelled even U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez, who sat with her on the Texas Supreme Court, to call her attempt to rewrite the state’s parental notification laws as “an unconscionable act of judicial activism.”
Owen is notable for her support of corporate interests at the expense of consumers. Her record show that she sides time after time with corporate interests. She routinely rules against workers. Also, having received donations to her judicial campaign from Enron, she showed bias toward their interests when they appeared before her.
Janice Rogers Brown
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, regarded as the second highest court of the land, is not the place for judicial extremists like Janice Rogers Brown. Brown’s judicial record is replete with controversial decisions in the area of women’s rights, consumer rights, disability rights and employee rights. Her speeches demonstrate an ultra-conservative ideological view regarding employment and property rights as well as a clear hostility for the protection of fundamental constitutional rights. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution pronounced her as “far out of the mainstream of accepted legal principles” and “not qualified for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.”
NOW opposes both these nominees because of their steadfast opposition to the principles of justice and equality. Despite their gender, these two state Supreme Court Justices have revealed their hostility to employment rights and the reproductive rights of women, throughout their records of judicial opinions. Senate Democrats were right to filibuster these two nominees when they were first nominated. Yet George W. Bush thumbed his nose at the justifiable opposition to these nominees when he re-nominated them, knowing that he was throwing down the gauntlet.
The die has been cast. Very soon, perhaps as early as next week, the battle to preserve the essential right of the Senate to advise and consent to judicial nominees will begin. The nominations will move to the floor and the filibusters will begin again. It remains to be seen whether the Republicans really will play procedural roulette and risk the destruction of the operations of the Senate and its traditional comity, in order to cement their grab for absolute power.
Take action by signing NOW’s petition opposing the “nuclear option.”
The word is that Senator Chafee is a potential key vote on this issue. So it’s really important to give him a call and urge him to vote against the nuclear option. His phone number is 202-224-2921.
Here are some talking points from Planned Parenthood
- [If you are a Republican, please start off with this, as it may make your argument stronger] “As a fellow Republican…”
- Please oppose the nuclear option.
- I am a concerned constituent who does not want to see our system of checks and balances lost in a game of politics.
- No one party should have absolute power.
- The filibuster has been used by Democrats and Republicans for two centuries to protect the rights of the minority party in the U.S. Senate.
- I urge you to vote to keep longstanding Senate rules intact.
MoveOn PAC and its partners in the Coalition for a Fair and Independent Judiciary are organizing a massive national wave of protest to stop them, culminating with emergency rallies across the country on Wednesday, April 27, at 5 PM. There’s one locally, in Providence, in front of the Superior Court. More information here at MoveOn’s website.