Feature Story from civilrights.org
Ellie Dehghan
October 25, 2006
Six controversial judicial nominees were again pulled from consideration in early October. After being withdrawn at the start of the Congressional summer recess, President Bush renominated them on August 30, a move that caused civil rights groups to raise concerns about Bush's agenda with respect to the federal courts.
"These judges have built up a record that is dismissive of civil rights issues. The Bush Administration pulled their nominations twice now. His dogged attempt to nominate these guys at all costs is alarming," said Leadership Conference of Civil Rights (LCCR) President and CEO Wade Henderson.
The nominations have been weighed down by Senate concerns over the nominees' records on issues like civil rights and the environment. On September 5,
Senator Patrick Leahy, D. Vt., called the August 30 renominations a "dangerous distraction" from vital issues the Senate must address.
Nominees Terrence Boyle, Michael Wallace, William G. Myers, Norman Randy Smith, William J. Haynes, and Peter D. Keisler each raised significant concerns when they were originally nominated. Civil rights groups, including the Alliance for Justice, the NAACP, and People For the American Way, said that their track records on civil rights made them unsuitable for lifetime seats on federal courts.
Michael Wallace, nominee to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, was even rated "unanimously unqualified" by the American Bar Association (ABA).
Judge Boyle, a Fourth Circuit nominee and Mr. Wallace have both been cited by civil rights groups as being "hostile" to individual rights. "[Wallace] is one of those individuals who can intellectualize discrimination, which is the most dangerous sort of individual to this country," said Derrick Johnson, the president of Mississippi's NAACP chapter.
Judge Boyle has been reversed more than 150 times by the Fourth Circuit -- twice the rate of the average judge. "[Boyle's] high reversal rate shows a blatant disregard for basic rules and procedures, and his record demonstrates a pattern of hostility to individual rights," said Alliance for Justice President
Nan Aron.
During both his Senate hearings, Judge Haynes, nominee to the Fourth Circuit Court, failed to answer for his role in controversial Bush Administration policies that permitted practices amounting to torture of prisoners in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Guantánamo Bay when he was counsel for the Department of Defense General Counsel.
Observers believe it is possible that Keisler and possibly the other nominees will be renominated and rushed through to confirmation when Congress comes back after the midterm elections.
Hundreds of documents on Keisler's record have been withheld - particularly, his work for the Reagan Administration. Civil rights groups say that with so many unanswered questions about Keisler, the Senate must release the records before it moves forward with his nomination.
In 2005, the Bush administration also renominated controversial nominees who had previously been blocked by the Senate, including Judge Priscilla Owen and Attorney General William Pryor.
Both were later confirmed as part of a compromise, reached by 14 Senators known as the "Gang of 14," to avert a Senate showdown over the use of filibusters to block judicial nominations.
"Despite what the President would like us to believe, these nominees are not moderate, fair-minded judges who have the letter of the law and our best interests at heart," said
Henderson. "They are part of a bigger Bush agenda: a move to pack our courts with out-of-the-mainstream judges who are driven by ideology - not the law. LCCR opposed them when they were first nominated and we opposed them when they were renominated. Let us hope such a grave mistake is not made a third time."
