[Virtual Violet]

NAACP opposes PRESIDENT BUSH’S NOMINEE, EXTREME
RIGHT-WING JUDGE JANICE ROGERS BROWN TO US COURT
OF APPEALS FOR D.C. CIRCUIT

The Issue:
President Bush has nominated Janice Rogers Brown, who currently serves on the California Supreme Court, to serve a lifetime appointment on the US Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The NAACP strongly opposes this nomination, as Judge Brown has, throughout her career, been extremely antagonistic towards laws that protect Americans’ civil rights and civil liberties. Furthermore, she has consistently shown a real inability to separate her personal beliefs from her judicial activism.

The DC Circuit is the second most powerful court in the country, as it oversees the actions of federal agencies as well as often being the last hope for DC residents (60% of whom are African American). The Supreme Court’s limited case load means that the DC Circuit often provides the final say on federal agency actions involving voting rights, affirmative action, labor relations, clean air standards and health & safety regulations. Furthermore, the DC Circuit Court of Appeals is often seen as the holding area to the US Supreme Court; it has historically produced more Supreme Court justices than any other court. Janice Rogers Brown has no connection whatsoever to the District of Columbia, she is not a member of the DC bar and she has little, if any, experience with federal litigation.

Furthermore, when nominated to the California Court of Appeals, Janice Rogers Brown was rated “not qualified” by the California State Bar Judicial Nominees Evaluation Committee. This rating was based in part on her tendency to inject her “personal and philosophical” views into her judicial opinions and her “insensitivity to established precedent.” So far in her career, Judge Brown has issued many opinions hostile to civil rights. For example, she wrote:

Ü the principle opinion enforcing California’s Proposition 209, which outlawed Affirmative Action in education, and she even went so far as to expand it so that it also covered outreach efforts for minority and female-owned municipal subcontractors;

Ü in opposition to a ruling that an injunction against racial epithets did not violate the First Amendment

Ü in opposition to a ruling that California’s Fair Employment and Housing Commission had the authority to award emotional distress damages to victims of discrimination

The Message:
Ø Janice Rogers Brown has, though her numerous rulings from the California State Supreme Court bench, shown herself to be extremely hostile to laws intended to protect Americans’ civil rights and civil liberties. She has shown a genuine hostility towards such civil rights staples as affirmative action, basic civil rights protections, and public education.

Ø Janice Rogers Brown’s own peers within the California State Bar Association found her to be unqualified to serve on the California State Court of Appeals due to her tendency to interject her personal and philosophical views into her judicial opinions.

Ø Janice Rogers Brown is not qualified to serve on the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit; she has little, if any, experience with federal legislation, she is not a member of the District of Columbia bar and she has never lived in the DC area.

Ø Her extreme right-wing views, and her willingness to interject them in her decisions and her decision-making process, regardless of judicial precedent, would clearly interfere with the pursuit of justice.