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Oppose Judicial Nominee Janice Brown
and the Parade of Right-Wing Judges Before the Senate
Action Needed:
Please use this link to contact your Senators on the Judiciary Committee and urge them to oppose the judicial nomination of Janice Brown to the D.C. Circuit! If your Senators aren't on the Committee, urge them to oppose confirmation of this extremist judge.
On Oct. 22, the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing to consider the nomination of ultraconservative California Supreme Court Judge Janice Brown to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. Judge Brown has a history of hostility toward affirmative action, abortion and birth control rights and government benefit programs and has been described as more conservative than Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas.
Background:
Judge Janice Rogers Brown is a member of the California Supreme Court. At her hearing on Wednesday, Oct. 22, Brown claimed to understand the importance of separating her personal views from her professional life, but her record belies this statement. Her court decisions reflect her desire to limit abortion rights and corporate liability and display her outright opposition to affirmative action.
When confronted about a speech she made three years ago in which she argued that government involvement in life led to the disintegration of civil society, Brown claimed that she had meant the remarks to challenge her audience of student Federalist Society members. She then admitted, however, that she had written the speech herself and that her speeches reflect her views. Her court opinions also reflect her distaste for civil rights protections. In the 1999 case Aguilar v. Avis Rent A Car Systems, Inc., a California trial court found that the employer had used racial slurs toward Latino employees thus creating a hostile work environment. Brown dissented from this majority opinion, arguing that the First Amendment protects the use of racial slurs in the workplace, even when it involves illegal race discrimination. Her opinion went so far as to suggest that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits employment discrimination, violates the First Amendment and is unconstitutional.
Judge Brown's decisions also reflect her opposition to affirmative action measures. She is infamous for her decision in Hi-Voltage Wire Works Inc. v. City of San Jose, 24 Cal. 4th 537 (2000), which upheld California's voter-approved initiative, Proposition 209, banning preferential treatment for women and minorities in public contracts, hiring and college admissions. Brown's 18-page opinion attacked not only the facts of the case but also affirmative action in general, making her very popular among the Republican Right.
Although Janice Brown has only addressed the issue of abortion once, in the case of American Academy of Pediatrics v. Daniel E. Lundgren, she did so by dismissing a minor's right to privacy. The majority of the California Supreme Court struck down a law requiring minors to obtain a parent's permission to obtain an abortion. The court held that California's constitution, unlike the federal Constitution, explicitly protected citizens' privacy, rendering the provision unconstitutional. In Brown's dissent, she suggested that the federal Constitution restricts states from recognizing a right to privacy in their constitutions. She suggested that the majority's opinion allowed courts to "topple every cultural icon, to dismiss all societal values, and to become final arbiters of traditional morality." Since then, Brown has listed her dissent in this case as one of her ten most significant opinions.
Brown's opinions frequently reflect her extremist ideology and ignore established constitutional law. The American Bar Association has given her a mixed "qualified/not qualified" rating for this position. More than 30 influential progressive groups, including virtually every major civil rights organization, oppose Brown. In addition, a group of 246 distinguished law professors and administrators from across the country recently submitted to the Committee a letter of strong opposition to Brown's nomination.
If confirmed, Judge Brown will serve on the District of Columbia Court of Appeals—a court whose power is second only to that of the Supreme Court. This court has been called a "training ground" for Supreme Court justices. Because of the possible ramifications of nominations to this court, each nominee to the District of Columbia court should be closely scrutinized.
Don't let Bush put another conservative justice on one of the most influential courts in the land! Please use this link to contact the Senators on the Judiciary Committee and urge them to oppose the judicial nomination of Janice Brown.
A judiciary committee vote is expected on Brown's nomination this week—if her nomination goes to the floor, urge your senators to support a filibuster of Brown's nomination.
Update on Other Judicial Nominees:
This week, the Senate Judiciary Committee is also expected to hold a hearing for Claude Allen, a right-wing extremist with strong views against sexual freedom and homosexuality. Allen is nominated to the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. The Committee may also consider a vote on the nomination of Henry Saad, an ultraconservative judge with a history of hostility toward women's rights, for the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals. Urge the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee to oppose the nominations of conservative ideologues Claude Allen and Henry Saad.
The full Senate also plans to vote soon on the controversial confirmation of Charles Pickering to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. It is vital that all Senate Democrats be urged to filibuster this nominee because of his extreme unacceptable record on racism. It will take vigilance on the part of all grassroots activists to continue to put pressure on Senators to "do the right thing" on this parade of radical right-wing ideologues.
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