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SHARPTON BREAKS RANKS ON BROWN
By Charles Hurt
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
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The Rev. Al Sharpton implored Senate Democrats yesterday not to filibuster
President Bush's nomination of California Supreme Court Justice Janice Rogers Brown to
the nation's second-highest federal court.
Justice Brown, who is black, has come under intense criticism by liberal black
groups, such as the NAACP, and by Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee. The
panel plans to vote this morning on her nomination to the U.S. Court of Appeals for
the D.C. Circuit.
"I don't agree with her politics. I don't agree with some of her background,"
said Mr. Sharpton, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for president. "But she
should get an up-or-down vote."
Democrats have been sharply critical of Justice Brown, though they have not yet
explicitly vowed a filibuster, which would prevent her name from reaching the Senate
floor for a confirmation vote that likely would pass. If all nine Democrats vote
against the nomination today, they will likely begin a filibuster against her.
Mr. Sharpton's comments not only complicate the vote for several Democrats on the
panel, they also are a stark departure from some of the best-known black groups, such
as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. NAACP Chairman
Julian Bond said Justice Brown is "hostile to civil rights and civil liberties and
ill-prepared to sit on the nation's second-highest court."
"The president's penchant for choosing extremist minority judicial candidates is
an exercise in cynicism of the worst kind," Mr. Bond said. "Clothing extreme views in
color is designed to make them more difficult to oppose, but judicial selections
should be based in principle, not in pigment."
Born into a poor, sharecropping family in segregated Alabama, Justice Brown made
her way through law school as a single mother. After serving in former California Gov.
Pete Wilson's administration, she was named by him to the California Supreme Court.
At a press conference yesterday, Mr. Bond and other black leaders portrayed
Justice Brown as a "far right-wing extremist" and "outside the mainstream."
They were asked how Justice Brown could be described as a right-wing ideologue
when 76 percent of California voters cast ballots to return her to the bench in 1998,
the highest percentage of any justice in that retention election.
"It's inexplicable to me," Mr. Bond said. "I cannot think of a response. But
nonetheless, that election does not invalidate any of the things [we] have said."
Mr. Sharpton echoed the concerns of many conservatives  especially black
conservatives  that Justice Brown is being opposed because she doesn't conform to
the Democratic ideology that many blacks espouse.
"We've got to stop this monolith in black America because it impedes the freedom
of expression for all of us," Mr. Sharpton said in a television interview conducted by
Sinclair Broadcasting yesterday. "I don't think she should be opposed because she
doesn't come from some assumed club."
Mr. Sharpton compared the filibusters to the same sort of "pocket vetoes" used
for so long against blacks.
Wade Henderson, director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, who
attended the anti-Brown press conference, was later asked about Mr. Sharpton's remarks.
"I don't believe it. That can't be true," he said as he headed to a meeting in
the Democratic leadership office. "It would be shockingly surprising."
Mr. Sharpton's position could create particular problems for Sen. John Edwards,
North Carolina Democrat and candidate for president, who plans to vote against Justice
Brown's nomination in the Judiciary Committee today.
A group supporting Justice Brown's nomination is airing television ads in South
Carolina criticizing Mr. Edwards for blocking the nominee, who was born into the same
conditions as many of those in that state's large black population.
South Carolina is Mr. Edwards' birth state and his best early hope for a primary
victory. South Carolina also is the state where Mr. Sharpton has the highest poll
numbers.
ÂRobert Redding Jr. and Steve Miller contributed to this report.
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