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January 08, 2003
Schumer to Filibuster Pickering Nomination
Bush has renominated Trent Lott ally Charles Pickering. With Lott keeping high-power as chair of the Rules committee, this all shows how empty the Bush rhetoric was around the Lott affair.
Big points for Senator Schumer, though, who will announce a planned filibuster. Hopefully, just one of many to come by the Democrats as the GOP seeks to commandeer the whole judicial branch with rightwing appointees.
Posted by Nathan at January 8, 2003 11:45 AM
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One of the first of the anti-civil rights pro states rights judicial nominees who will have a hearing is Jeffrey S. Sutton, who Nathan spoke out about in 2001. Sutton, whom I urge everyone to oppose, has been involved in striking down the civil lawsuits provisions of the Violence Against Women's Act (Morrison v. US), monetary lawsuits by the disabled against discriminatory state employers under Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act (Univ Alabama v. Garrett) and lawsuits for damages against discriminatory state employers (under the Age Discrimination Employment Act in Kimel v. Trustees of Univ of Florida). He also has successfully pursued a case undermining the Disparate Impact clause Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and attempted to render states exempt from private lawsuits for violating the terms of Medicaid by claiming that Medicaid was a contract between the states and the federal government rather than federal legislation (Westside Mothers v. Haveman).
He is a judicial activist who has admitted that he pursues these cases because he believes in states rights and is constantly on the lookout for opportunities to advance his point of view.
Federal judges get lifetime terms and young federal judges like Sutton can remain in place for 20 or more years. Please sign on to a petition to oppose his nomination at www.adawatch.org .
Posted by: daobserver at January 9, 2003 12:40 PM
Alas, Sutton's record is all too typical of the current crop of nominees. They are, many of them, stars of the Far Right's States Rights Strategy, which is designed to "narrow[] the nation's power", to paraphrase the title of a recent (and quite good) book by Reagan-appointee to the 9th Circuit, John Noonan. Sutton's just the first of the many who must be opposed: Kuhl, Bybee, Estrada, Cook, Tymkovich, Roberts. And, of course, we can expect more to be nominated.
Posted by: Fast Talking Sue at January 10, 2003 12:40 PM