Fw: Bush's plan to stack the courts begins today

----- Original Message -----
From: "Ben Brandzel, MoveOn PAC"
To: "Miriam Vieni"
Sent: Tuesday, March 01, 2005 6:07 PM
Subject: Bush's plan to stack the courts begins today

Dear MoveOn member,

As we write this, the Senate is debating the nomination of mining and
cattle industry lobbyist William Myers III for a lifetime appointment to
the Circuit Court of Appeals -- the second highest court in the land.
Myers is the first of 20 nominees Bush has re-submitted in his second
term. All 20 repeat nominees were rejected last term by Senate Democrats
(as compared to 204 judges they accepted) because these nominees
consistently sided with corporate special interests over the rights of
ordinary Americans.

The Senate has the power to approve or reject judicial nominations because
judges -- above all else -- must be trusted by Americans on all sides to
rule fairly. So why does Bush refuse to send new nominees both parties can
agree on? Because while his presidency will be over in 4 years, the judges
he appoints will be on the bench for the rest of their lives. This is
Bush's big push to lock in his hard right, corporate-friendly ideology for
decades to come -- and that is exactly why we must not back down now.

The fight begins today. The Myers vote is a key test -- and may well
determine whether Bush can stack the judiciary, all the way up to the
Supreme Court, with a steady stream of hard right, pro-corporate judges.
It's crucial that our Senators know that we out here in America are
counting on them to hold the line against all 20 of Bush's rejected,
partisan judges.

Please sign today:

http://www.moveonpac.org/judges/?id=5135-3285954-WN4cyfUtZYjVpSnJeEK6kQ

We will deliver your comments to your Senators before the crucial votes on
these 20 judicial nominees.

Here's a brief summary of just the first three of the 20 partisan judges
re-nominated by President Bush.

William Myers III has never been a judge and spent most of his career as
a lobbyist for the cattle and mining industry.[1] He has written that
all habitat conservation laws are unconstitutional because they
interfere with potential profit.[2] In 2001, Bush appointed him as the
chief lawyer for the Department of the Interior. In that role he
continued as a champion of corporate interests, setting his agenda in
meetings with former employers he promised not to speak with, and even
illegally giving away sacred Native American land to be strip mined.[3]

Terrence Boyle was a legal aide to Jesse Helms. As a judge, his
signature decisions have attempted to circumvent federal laws barring
employment discrimination by race, gender, and disability.[4] His
rulings have been overturned a staggering 120 times by the conservative
4th District Court of Appeals, either due to gross errors in judgment or
simple incompetence.[5]

William Pryor Jr. served as Attorney General of Alabama, where he took
money from Phillip Morris, fought against the anti-tobacco lawsuit until
it was almost over, and cost the people of Alabama billions in
settlement money for their healthcare system as a result.[6] He called
Roe v. Wade "the worst abomination of constitutional law in our
history," and has consistently argued against the federal protections
for the civil rights of minorities, lesbian and gay couples, women, and
the disabled.[7]

If we falter now, then decades down the road dozens of judges like this
will still be ruling in favor of unchecked corporate greed and against the
basic principles of accountability and fairness.

The Bush Administration is prepared to stop at nothing to smash Democratic
resistance and stack the courts. As President of the Senate, Dick Cheney
has even threatened to push these 20 through by using a parliamentary
trick so abusive even he calls it the "nuclear option." If they can get
away with it, the "nuclear option" would eliminate the right to filibuster
-- a rule that has allowed 40 or more Senators to keep extremists from all
sides off the courts for centuries.

If that happens, when Supreme Court vacancies begin to open up in a few
months there will be no motivation for Bush to nominate justices
acceptable to both parties, and no ability for Democrats to oppose even
the most dangerous extremists.

We must draw the line here, by stopping Bush's 20 repeat nominees. They
were rejected once -- they can and must be rejected again.

Please sign the petition today:
http://www.moveonpac.org/judges/?id=5135-3285954-WN4cyfUtZYjVpSnJeEK6kQ

Thanks for all that you do,

--Ben Brandzel, Eli Pariser and the whole MoveOn PAC Team
Tuesday, March 1st, 2005

Notes:

[1] "Unfit to Judge," Community Rights Council, 4/2/04.

[2] "Myers Troubling Legal Philosophy," People for the American Way.

[3] "Environmental Group Calls on Senate to Block Myers Nomination:
Ethical Problems and Anti-Environmental Activism Make Him Unfit for
Judgeship," Friends of the Earth, 2/5/05.

[4] "Federal Judge Terrence Boyle Unfit for Promotion to Appeals Court,"
People for the American Way, 2/23/05.

[5] "Eastern District of North Carolina Terrence Boyle Nominated to the
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit," Alliance for Justice.

[6] Eric Fleischauer, "Pryor Called a Tobacco Sellout," Decatur Daily
News, 10/30/02.

[7] Ann Woolner, "Bush Judicial Candidate Shows How Things Change,"
Bloomberg News, 5/16/03.

PAID FOR BY MOVEON PAC

Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.

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