Yesterday, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted along party lines to approve the nomination of Janice Rogers Brown to the DC Circuit. All the Democrats on the Committee voted against the nomination.
Women’s rights groups, civil rights groups, environmental groups, senior’s rights groups, and labor all oppose Brown’s nomination. In her speeches, Brown has shown a deep hostility to abortion rights. She has belittled the modern judicial theory that lead to the right to privacy and overruled bans on birth control and abortion, and She voted in favor of California’s parental consent statute. Brown’s views on civil rights are also very radical. She voted against a ruling that would stop racially discriminatory speech in a work place because, she wrote, racist remarks at work are protected by the First Amendment.
Explaining his vote against her in a press statement, Senator Russ Feingold said, “The jurisprudence of Justice Brown is a Jurisprudence of Convenience. She is skilled at finding a legal theory to support a desired result. I do not think that kind of approach to judging should be rewarded with an appointment to the second highest court in the land.”
The Feminist Majority joins a wide coalition of groups, including the Congressional Black Caucus, the NAACP, the National Bar Association, women’s rights groups, environmental organizations, unions, disability rights groups and seniors’ rights groups, in opposing this nomination.
TAKE ACTION Urge Your Senators to Filibuster Judge Janice Rogers Brown
