CWA Says, Politics, Sexism and Racism Behind Phony Filibusters      5/11/2005

Audio Commentary by: Jan LaRue Chief Counsel Click icon to stream, or right click here to download.

Washington, D.C. – Concerned Women for America (CWA) says sexist politics and exploitive racism are the real reasons the Democrats are refusing to permit votes on President Bush’s judicial nominees.

The Democrats’ memos show that Sens. Ted Kennedy (D-Massachusetts) and Richard Durbin (D-Illinois) conspired with special interests to block Miguel Estrada’s confirmation. Why? Because as the memos (online at fairjudiciary.com and in Mark Levin’s new book, Men In Black) explain, “he is Latino” and they did not want President Bush to elevate a Latino. Kennedy then pitched it to his caucus and told them that they did not want “to have another vote like Clarence Thomas.”

“The Democrats willingly sacrificed a stellar minority nominee in a blatant attempt to hold on to a segment of their political base,” said Jan LaRue, CWA’s chief counsel.

At a press conference on May 9, Kennedy again expressed his refusal to confirm Janice Rogers Brown, an African-American woman, to the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

This nation will never be America until we free ourselves from all forms of discrimination. It is a continuing, ongoing march to progress, and we are not going to turn back by appointing judges to lifetime positions who will bring us and return us back to those days of discrimination and prejudice. And that is what we believe the decisions of two of the nominees that are coming before the United States, Janice Rogers Brown, as well as the Terrence Boyle decisions, will bring us.

“Kennedy’s pretense as a heroic advocate for the civil rights movement while refusing to allow an up or down vote on Judge Rogers Brown is hypocrisy on steroids,” LaRue concluded. “Democrats can’t stand to lose their traditional hold on the black vote. They’re trashing the reputations and distorting the records of excellent nominees and failing miserably to fulfill their constitutional duty in the process. It’s also why they’re attacking Priscilla Owen. Democrats lost the married women’s vote in the last election and they fear losing the rest of female voters in the next, if they allow the president to appoint a woman to the bench.”

For Information Contact:
Valerie Mosher
(202) 488-7000
media.cwfa.org

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