----- Original Message -----
Sent: Friday, October 17, 2003 9:29
PM
Subject: [Sndbox] Black Democrats
denounce judicial nominee Brown as another'Clarence Thomas'
Black Democrats denounce judicial nominee Brown as another
'Clarence Thomas'
JESSE J.
HOLLAND, Associated Press Writer
Friday, October 17, 2003
�2003 Associated Press
URL: sfgate.com/article.cgi?file=/news/archive/2003/10/17/national1613EDT0681.DTL
(10-17) 13:13 PDT WASHINGTON (AP) --
The Congressional Black Caucus denounced White House judicial nominee
Janice Rogers Brown of California on Friday, with one member saying she was
"cut from the same cloth as Clarence Thomas" and should be kept off a federal
appellate court.
"This Bush nominee has such an atrocious civil rights record she makes
Clarence Thomas look like Thurgood Marshall," said Rep. Diane Watson, D-Calif.
But Republican senators immediately defended Brown. "If critics don't like
Justice Brown's decisions, they should change the law, rather than attack her
for partisan political gain," said Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, a member of the
Senate Judiciary Committee.
President Bush has nominated Brown, a California state justice, for a seat
on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia. She is expected to
appear next Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee for a confirmation
hearing.
The 12-member appeals court decides important government cases involving
separation of powers, the role of the federal government, the responsibilities
of federal officials and the authority of federal agencies. It now has five
Republican and four Democratic appointees.
The black Democrats said Brown's conservative credentials make her unfit
for the D.C. judgeship. Brown, who is black, is considered among the
California high court's most conservative justices.
She supports limits on abortion rights and corporate liability, routinely
votes to uphold death penalty sentences and opposes affirmative action.
Bush "hasn't fooled us," said Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C. "She's cut
from the same cloth as Clarence Thomas."
Thomas, who became the Supreme Court's second black justice after Thurgood
Marshall retired, is one of that court's most conservative members and a
longtime critic of civil rights legislation and affirmative action programs.
If confirmed, Brown would become the second black woman on the D.C. court.
"That does not mean that any of us would and will give a pass to an
unqualified nominee simply because she is a minority candidate," said Rep.
Maxine Waters, D-Calif.
Senate Democrats have not said whether they will filibuster Brown. They are
filibustering three judicial nominees and have forced one, Hispanic lawyer
Miguel Estrada, to withdraw his nomination.
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