Contact: Mike Russell at 703-683-5004 (ext. 109)
June 6, 2005
Washington, D.C. Judicial Confirmation Network counsel Wendy E. Long today made the following statement as the U.S. Senate debated the impending cloture vote on the nomination of California Supreme Court Justice Janice Rogers Brown by President Bush to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit:
"Justice Brown is acknowledged by the legal community that knows her best as a judge of demonstrated judicial temperament, professional expertise and competence, absolute personal and professional integrity, a keen and agile mind, excellent educational and professional training and background, and the ability to communicate clearly, particularly in her legal writing.
"She is acknowledged to have outstanding qualifications for the federal bench by those in the legal community who know her best. Two weeks ago, a bipartisan group of California judges and lawyers gathered in Sacramento and spoke of the injustice and inaccuracy of the attacks on Justice Brown that are being made by liberal pressure groups. Yet the attacks continue, with television ads and statements that have no basis in fact.
"The facts are these: Justice Brown is a mainstream judge who has voted with the majority 90 percent of the time and has dissented in only about 4 percent of decisions. She quickly became one of the most prolific authors of majority opinions on the California Supreme Court.
"Her fellow judges on the California bench call her a 'superb judge' who is 'extremely intelligent, keenly analytical, and very hard working,' and who 'applies the law without favor, without bias, and with an even hand.'
"Here's another key fact: the groups who are attacking her are the ones who are outside the mainstream, who refuse to follow the Constitution as written and who want to trample on democracy by ignoring the will of the voters as expressed through their elected representatives. Justice Brown is very respectful of the will of the people and of the Constitution as written, as she has demonstrated repeatedly.
"I wonder if these groups attacking Justice Brown think Justices William Brennan and Thurgood Marshall were 'outside the mainstream' when they dissented from every death penalty case at the U.S. Supreme Court."
The Judicial Confirmation Network is an organization of citizens joined to support the confirmation of highly qualified judges and justices. In addition, JCN works to ensure that the confirmation process for all judicial nominees is fair and that every nominee sent to the full Senate receives an up or down vote.
To schedule an interview with a representative of the Judicial Confirmation Network, please call Mike Russell 703-683-5004 (ex. 109)
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