[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 3]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 4103]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                   POLITICIZING THE FEDERAL JUDICIARY

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. JOHN CONYERS, JR.

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, March 20, 2001

  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, ``Bipartisanship.'' ``The rule of law.'' A 
judiciary that ``looks and feels like the diverse country'' we are. All 
ideas that then-Governor Bush's campaign promised to deliver on during 
the fall campaign.
  Many believe that these slogans were just that: Bromides intended as 
camouflage, as feel-good dressing for a right wing agenda far outside 
the political mainstream.
  President Bush's actions with the federal judiciary in just the past 
week--when the White House may believe that everyone is distracted with 
the tax cutting plan for the rich--may in fact prove just how far out 
of touch with the mainstream, and its own campaign rhetoric, this 
administration really is.
  First, the White House has floated a balloon that it's considering 
abandoning the long-standing practice of soliciting comments from the 
ABA for judicial nominees. This could be the clearest signal that 
ideology and a crass desire to politicize the judiciary--rather than 
judicial competence--will be touchstone for Bush nominations to the 
federal judiciary.
  And then today, the Bush administration has announced that it would 
rescind nominations for the federal bench made by the Clinton 
Administration. Among the casualties, African American judges who bore 
the stamp of enthusiastic approval from the ABA and from Republicans. 
Judges such as Roger Gregory, who had support of two Republican 
senators in Virginia, and who would represent the first African 
American appointment on the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals. Judge Gregory 
was appointed to the court in a recess appointment after the Republican 
Senate would not schedule a confirmation vote.
  Both actions speak loudly to African Americans. They portend a plan 
by this Bush White House to politicize the judiciary. They both turn 
the clock backwards.
  Today's Detroit News has the following article which is on point.

                 [From the Detroit News, Mar. 20, 2001]

                 Bush Withdraws Mich. Judicial Nominees

                         (By Jesse J. Holland)

       Washington.--President Bush on Monday dumped former 
     President Clinton's last judicial nominees, including two 
     Michigan women nominated for the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of 
     Appeals who never got a hearing.
       Michigan Court of Appeals Judge Helene White waited for a 
     Senate Judiciary Committee hearing for four years--longer 
     than any other judicial nominee in history.
       And Detroit attorney Kathleen McCree Lewis, a partner in 
     the Dykema Gossett law firm who often argues cases before the 
     6th Circuit, was nominated in September 1999 but never had a 
     hearing.
       ``I'm very disappointed,'' she said. ``I knew it could 
     happen, but because there had been statements about 
     bipartisanship, it was my hope that it wouldn't.''
       Bush officially withdrew 62 executive and judicial 
     nominations.
       Besides Michigan, the 6th Circuit includes Ohio, Tennessee 
     and Kentucky.
       ``Both of these nominees were not only very qualified and 
     widely respected, but would have been excellent members of 
     the federal bench,'' said Rep. Debbie Stabenow, D-Lansing. 
     ``While the President has continued to talk about the need to 
     reach out to Democrats and foster greater bipartisanship in 
     Washington, it's time he needs to follow-up his words with 
     bipartisan deeds.''
       Stabenow and Sen. Carl Levin, D-Detroit, had been pushing 
     for a hearing for the two Michigan nominees.
       ``Some of these individuals will be considered for 
     positions in the Bush administration,'' White House spokesman 
     Scott McClellan said. ``No one should be considered ruled in 
     or out at this point.''
       The decision to withdraw the Clinton judicial nominees 
     comes as Bush starts to look at filling the remaining 
     vacancies with his own nominees.
       White House counsel Albert Gonzales and Atty. Gen. John 
     Ashcroft met with top officials from the American Bar 
     Association on Monday to discuss the nomination process. A 
     committee of senior administration officials led by Gonzales 
     has interviewed more than 50 candidates in a drive to fill 
     nearly 100 vacancies with judges who share Bush's 
     conservative philosophy.

     

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