U.S. Senate showdown looms over judge's nomination

Monday, Oct 20, 2003



Posted on Sun, Oct. 19, 2003

U.S. Senate showdown looms over judge's nomination
By HOWARD MINTZ
San Jose Mercury News

SAN JOSE, Calif. - California Supreme Court Justice Janice Rogers Brown's nomination to a prestigious federal appeals court has turned into the latest political and ideological slugfest over the Bush administration's choices for the federal bench.

As Brown prepares for a pivotal confirmation hearing Wednesday in the Senate Judiciary Committee, civil rights groups, women's organizations, black leaders and others are mounting a fierce campaign to torpedo Brown, saying she is too conservative to serve on the Washington, D.C.-based appeals court. The Congressional Black Caucus on Friday joined the chorus of opponents - even though Brown is an African-American who rose to the top of her profession from a humble childhood in the segregated South.

Such resistance is considered a strong indication that Brown's nomination will be as contentious as a number of other recent judicial picks by President George W. Bush who've been filibustered by Senate Democrats, effectively dooming their nominations. And the showdown over Brown is expected to be intensified by the fact she is widely considered future U.S. Supreme Court material if confirmed to a seat on the D.C. U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

"This is an active campaign to use scorched-earth tactics to stop a qualified person to be on the federal bench because she has been identified as a potential nominee for a future Supreme Court vacancy," said Viet Dinh, who until June was in charge of screening judicial nominees for the Justice Department. (snip/...)

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/7051865.htm

She's not just conservative...man, she's super conservative.

That seems to be the "litmus" test for Bush judicial appointees. Please don't shock me with the answer...

(snip) Janice Rogers Brown is currently an Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court, where she has served since 1996. She is the first African-American woman to sit on California's highest court.

Brown was born in Alabama in 1949 and grew up amidst the tumult of the civil rights movement. After moving with her family to California while she was a teenager, Brown attended California State University in Sacramento and then enrolled in law school at UCLA.

After law school, Brown worked for two years (1977-1979) for California's Office of Legislative Counsel. She followed with an eight-year stint in the California Attorney General's Office, after which Governor George Deukmejian appointed her Deputy Secretary of the Business, Transportation, and Housing Agency. In 1991, Governor Pete Wilson appointed Brown to be his legal affairs secretary.

Brown's judicial experience began with her nomination by Wilson in 1994 to California's Third District Court of Appeals. In 1996, Wilson nominated Brown to the California Supreme Court. Brown's nomination to the California Supreme Court met with opposition from the State Bar of California's Commission on Judicial Nominees, which rated her "not qualified" due to her limited judicial experience and her tendency to express "gratuitous" political and philosophical views in her opinions. This was the second time Brown had been rated "not qualified" by the Commission: the previous "not qualified" rating in 1993 cost Brown her first chance on the state's highest court. However, Wilson ferociously defended Brown's qualifications, and she was soon confirmed.

Since ascending to the bench, Brown has become known both for her conservative views and her stinging dissents. The next few posts will explore several of her most prominent decisions and dissents.
(snip/)

http://www.goldsteinhowe.com/blog/archive/2003_03_23_SCOTUSblog.cfm#200040047

Much more about her at site. One right-wing blog I glanced at described her as falling between Scalia and Thomas. A prime @$$####, it would seem.

You are a sweetheart.

lefties she now despises. She got hers, and now she wants to close the door to others. Her favorite scent must be Essence Of Sellout.