CWA Urges U.S. Senate: Debunk Smear of Judge Saad and Vote!     6/30/2005

Washington, D.C. -- Concerned Women for America (CWA) urged the U.S. Senate to put a stop to Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-Nevada) smear campaign against Judge Henry Saad and support the President’s nominee to the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals by bringing the nomination to the Senate floor for an up-or-down vote.

Even though two U.S. presidents have nominated Judge Saad to the federal bench a total of four times, requiring the FBI to perform four separate background investigations of his record, Sen. Reid still got by with a drive-by attack on the nominee when he implied on May 12, 2005 that there is a problem in Saad’s FBI file, to which Reid is denied access. Reid said:

“Henry Saad would have been filibustered anyway. All you need to do is have a member go upstairs and look at his confidential report from the FBI, and I think we would all agree that there is a problem there.”

“One can hardly imagine a greater act of political cowardice and underhandedness than making such a race-baiting attack on an Arab-American judge in a post 9-ll environment, especially when his position does not afford him the freedom to respond,” CWA’s Chief Counsel Jan LaRue said in her statement today at a press conference hosted by the Third Branch Conference. “Wouldn’t you want to respond if it had been done to you? Wouldn’t you expect those who know you and are in a position to defend you to do so? But sadly, in Judge Saad’s case, few have who should have. We are unwilling to leave a judge of superb integrity and qualifications twisting in the wind.”

“The President and virtually every Republican senator have said repeatedly, ‘Every nominee deserves an up-or-down vote.’ It’s been repeated by the seven Republican members of the ‘Gang of 14’ who denied Judge Saad the no-filibuster benefit of their backroom bargain.

“It’s time for the Senate to respond to Reid’s cowardly attack on Judge Saad by bringing his nomination to the Senate floor for a vote. He deserves their full, strong support, which is long overdue,” said LaRue.

For Information Contact:
Demi Bardsley
(202) 309-5978
media.cwfa.org

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