Vote on Controversial Nominee Scheduled for Today
Feature Story by civilrights.org staff - 7/6/2004
Citing doubts about his "commitment to advance and protect the equality of all Americans under the law," civil rights groups are opposing the nomination of James Leon Holmes to the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas.A vote on the Holmes nomination is scheduled for today.
According to the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR), past statements made by Holmes "call into question his commitment to rule on issues important to the civil rights community in a fair and unbiased manner." Examples include a 1997 article co-authored by Holmes, in which he subscribes to the view that a wife's obligation is to "subordinate herself to her husband" and "place herself under the authority of the man."
In another example cited by LCCR, Holmes seems to regard favorably in a 1981 article Booker T. Washington's "de-emphasis" of political activity for African Americans, stating that Washington "was able to regard unjust segregation laws with more equanimity than others" because spiritual rather than political "liberation" was of ultimate importance.
LCCR also pointed to a 1990 article authored by Holmes in which he dismisses concerns about racial disparities in the imposition of the death penalty by suggesting that "a disproportionate number of death row inmates are poor and minorities, but so are the victims."
While "Holmes is certainly entitled to his personal opinions," LCCR expressed doubts about his ability "to insulate his duties as a neutral arbiter of the law from his deeply-held personal views."
