Bush to nominate author of anti-disability rights brief in Garrett case for Appellate Judgeship
At this point, it probably shouldn't surprise most, but Bush is expected to nominate Jeffrey Sutton, the author of the states' rights brief in the Garrett case that overturned part of Title I of the Americans with Disabilities Act to an appellate federal judgeship, in the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals. This is just the latest evidence that regrettably, Bush Jr. seems to be conservative without the compassion and is not sincere in his professed "support" of the Americans with Disabilities Act -- his father's greatest domestic legislative accomplishment.
In my view, Sutton's nomination should be vigorously opposed. Bush's spin doctors such as Alberto Gonzales, Esq. claim that Bush opposes "activist judges" who "legislate from the bench." But Sutton's briefs betray just that: a clear bias against equally protecting the rights of discriminated-against minorities. His brief in the Garrett case is proof positive that Sutton would legislate from the bench. As Al Hunt wrote in the Wall Street Journal, it is unacceptable for the Supreme Court to substitute its own ivory tower judgement about whether state discrimination against the disabled is pervasive enough to require legislative intervention for Congress' bipartisan consensus that resulted from extensive fact-finding.
It is important to let the Senate Judiciary Committee and Senators in general know that this nomination is unacceptable to us and should be stopped by any legal means at the Senate' disposal, including legislative holds and/or filibusters.
Daniel Davis VP of Advocacy, Disabled Students' Union UC Berkeley Leadership Member, National Disabled Students' Union
Bush to nominate conservative judges http://www.icanonline.net/news/fullpage.cfm?articleid=C1E4121E-C8EA- 42D2-A4F 96C272413F9C8&cx=news.news By Joan Biskupic USA TODAY March 23, 2001
WASHINGTON -- As a candidate, George W. Bush declared he wanted to make federal courts more conservative. Now, President Bush is poised to deliver. Within a few weeks, Bush will make his first nominations to federal courts. Among those high on the list for influential appeals courts are conservatives such as Michael McConnell, a University of Utah law professor who has an expertise in church-state disputes; and Jeffrey Sutton, a Columbus, Ohio, lawyer who has successfully argued states' rights cases before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Bush's nominee for U.S. solicitor general, the government's top lawyer before the Supreme Court, is Theodore Olson. He is best known for winning the Florida election case Bush vs. Gore at the high court. He also is one of the architects of contemporary legal conservatism. He argued successfully against the University of Texas' affirmative action program five years ago, persuading an appeals court to strike down the policy favoring minority applicants.
The president's choices, combined with Thursday's bold step of eliminating the American Bar Association's historic role of screening prospective nominees, send the message that the White House wants to tightly control the selection of judges and to curb potential influence from the left.
Halting the ABA's five decades of screening judicial nominees for competence and the moves to bring on board the most prominent thinkers of the conservative legal community indicate the Bush administration's resolve to reshape the nation's courts.
"The message seems to be a right-wing takeover," says Sheldon Goldman, a University of Massachusetts-Amherst political science professor who has tracked judicial nominations since the 1960s. Goldman criticized Bush's move to get rid of the ABA reviews.
The administration appears quite determined to change the bench, an approach that contrasts with the Clinton administration's slower, measured method of choosing judges. Bush's tactics recall the vigor of Ronald Reagan's push to put a conservative stamp on the federal judiciary.
White House counsel Alberto Gonzales said recently that the administration wants judges who do not "use the bench to further an agenda."
"I do think judges are asked to do too much in society," says Gonzales, who was a Texas Supreme Court justice, appointed by then-Gov. Bush. Gonzales says courts have been excessively involved in prisoners' rights cases and school integration disputes. That view contrasts with the more liberal notion that judges often must intervene to safeguard the rights of people, particularly the poor and disenfranchised, whose interests often are not represented by majority votes in legislatures.
The administration is finalizing its first slate of nominees. About a dozen names for the appeals courts are likely to be sent soon to the Senate, which has confirmation authority. People close to the nomination process say some leading candidates are McConnell for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit, which covers six Western states; Sutton for the 6th Circuit, which is based in Cincinnati and covers four states; and Washington, D.C., lawyer John Roberts (a former clerk to Chief Justice William Rehnquist) for the appeals court here that mostly handles disputes over federal regulations.
To see more of USAToday.com, or to subscribe, go to www.usatoday.com. © Copyright 2001 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.
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