AMERICANS UNITED CRITICIZES SENATE PANEL FOR APPROVING EXTREME JUDGES

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For Immediate Release
April 21, 2005

Americans United for Separation of Church and State
Contact: Joe Conn, Rob Boston or Jeremy Leaming
202.466.3234 telephone
202.466.2587 fax
www.au.org


AMERICANS UNITED CRITICIZES SENATE PANEL FOR APPROVING EXTREME JUDGE NOMINEE

AU's Lynn Urges Full Senate To Block Nomination Of Janice Rogers Brown

Americans United for the Separation of Church and State today criticized the Senate Judiciary Committee for advancing the nomination of Janice Rogers Brown, one of the Bush administration's most extreme federal appeals court nominees.

This afternoon, the committee voted 10-8 to send the nomination of California Supreme Court Justice Brown to the Senate floor, where it is expected to spark heated debate over procedures for approving the president's picks for the federal bench. Bush nominated Brown to the Federal Appeals Court for the District of Columbia during his first term, but the nomination was blocked by a filibuster led by Democrats. Early this year, Bush renominated Brown along with a string of other controversial nominations that had been defeated by filibuster during his first term.

In 2003 and again this year, Americans United urged the Senate to defeat the nomination, citing Brown's contempt for the First Amendment principle of church-state separation and her belief that the states may not be bound to uphold fundamental rights protected in the U.S. Constitution.

"We are disappointed in the Senate committee's support of a nominee who has clearly shown a desire to re-write constitutional law on a number of important fronts," said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, Americans United executive director. "Janice Rogers Brown is a threat to the U.S. Constitution, and we urge senators to keep her off the federal appeals court bench."

In letters sent to the Senate committee, American United has cited rulings and speeches by Brown, revealing her contempt for the separation of church and state as well as federal court precedent upholding privacy rights.

In a 1999 speech at Pepperdine University, Brown accused the Supreme Court of relying too often "on a rather uninformative metaphor of the 'wall of separation' between church and state." Brown has also argued against federal court precedent that holds the 14th Amendment bars states from violating fundamental rights protected by the Constitution.

Lynn noted that the Bush administration and its allies in the Senate are under pressure by Religious Right lobbyists to do away with the filibuster to make it easier for the federal courts to be packed with extremists like Brown.

"We call on the entire Senate to stand up against an emboldened Religious Right lobby's demands to pack the federal courts with judges who lack a commitment to constitutional principles," Lynn said.

Americans United is a religious liberty watchdog group based in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1947, the organization educates Americans about the importance of church-state separation in safeguarding religious freedom.

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between church and state".

And just what is uninformative about it? Seems real clear to me.

the founding fathers ... who made it abundantly clear that, regardless of what had influenced them in their childhood, they wanted a secular government, that was completely neutral towards religion, and did not sponsor it in any way.