Latest Confirmed Nominee Sees Slavery in Liberalism

The New York Times ^ | 06/09/05 | David Kirkptrick

[bubman]

WASHINGTON, June 8 - Janice Rogers Brown, the African-American daughter of Alabama sharecroppers who was confirmed Wednesday to the federal appeals court here, often invokes slavery in describing what she sees as the perils of liberalism. "In the heyday of liberal democracy, all roads lead to slavery," she has warned in speeches. Society and the courts have turned away from the founders' emphasis on personal responsibility, she has argued, toward a culture of government regulation and dependency that threatens fundamental freedoms. "We no longer find slavery abhorrent," she told the conservative Federalist Society a few years ago. "We embrace it." She explained in another speech, "If we can invoke no ultimate limits on the power of government, a democracy is inevitably transformed into a kleptocracy - a license to steal, a warrant for oppression." To her critics, such remarks are evidence of extremism. This week, some Senate Democrats have even singled her out as the most objectionable of President Bush's more than 200 judicial nominees, citing her criticism of affirmative action and abortion rights but most of all her sweeping denunciations of New Deal legal precedents that enabled many federal regulations and social programs - developments she has called "the triumph of our socialist revolution." Her friends and supporters say her views of slavery underpin her judicial philosophy. It was her study of that history, they say, combined with her evangelical Christian faith and her self-propelled rise from poverty that led her to abandon the liberal views she learned from her family. "We discuss things like, 'How did slavery happen?' " said her friend and mentor Steve Merksamer, a lawyer in Sacramento, Calif. "It comes down to the fact that she believes, as I do, that some things are, in fact, right and some things are, in fact, wrong.

[bubman]

This woman is remarkable.

[cvq3842]

Wow! Bring it on!

[ICE-FLYER]

There is hope with people like this onthe bench. I pray for her safety and far reaching success.

[taxcontrol]

[Dem point of view]

Cant have that uppity negro out there getting the plantation all up in an uproar.

[joesnuffy]

She has the spirit of the original Americans...

A very rare thing these days...

imo

[lnbchip]

"She has the spirit of the original Americans...

A very rare thing these days..."

And that's what scares the he!! out of the libs.

[Huck]

She's by far my favorite out of all the nominees. She's the real deal. I am not so sure about Pryor, or Owens, or Pickering. But this one has my vote for SCOTUS.

[RexBeach]

Boy, tell you what, I'd love to have a couple of beers with this woman. My word, the stories she could tell! God bless her!

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

Anyone who quotes Hayek can't be all bad!

[oblomov]

So does that mean that the NYT editorial board are apologists for slavery?

[Noachian]

I like what Brown has to say, she looks to be the kind of Justice we need on the bench and I hate to be a party pooper, but given the history of the Court's activism can we still say that Brown will continue to have the same ideals 25 years from now?

Why don't we wait and see what she does on her bench before we get excited about her future rulings. Let's see how she interprets the Constitution when she has a lifetime job, and is accountable to no one.

[Irontank]

Cant have that uppity negro out there getting the plantation all up in an uproar

You're not kidding...the nomination of Justice Brown has forced the leftist Democrats like Schumer and Boxer to abandon their weak attempt to hide their bigotry behind their contemptible "we will take care of all you simple black folks so long as you toe the line" attitude...check out this racist cartoon from the "progressive" Black Commentator...a self-described black advocacy group:

[rice08]

of all places:

http://www.pfaw.org/pfaw/general/default.aspx?oid=12751

I like what I read!

[Michael.SF.]

sweeping denunciations of New Deal legal ... she has called "the triumph of our socialist revolution."

The libs hate it when they hear the truth, they really hate it when they hear it from a minority, and they really really hate it when the minority person is a woman of strength, intelligence and courage.

[twigs]

From what I've heard, they're all good. But Brown even stands out among the best. I want to see her on the USSC.

[RicocheT]

Follow the link in post 13 and you will like Judge Brown's words.

"Where government advances – and it advances relentlessly – freedom is imperiled; community impoverished; religion marginalized and civilization itself jeopardized....When did government cease to be a necessary evil and become a goody bag to solve our private problems? [“Hyphenasia: the Mercy Killing of the American Dream,” Speech at Claremont-McKenna College (Sept. 16, 1999) at 3,4]"

[sure_fine]

"In the heyday of liberal democracy, all roads lead to slavery," she has warned in speeches. Society and the courts have turned away from the founders' emphasis on personal responsibility, she has argued, toward a culture of government regulation and dependency that threatens fundamental freedoms.

I like her

[eureka!]

"If we can invoke no ultimate limits on the power of government, a democracy is inevitably transformed into a kleptocracy - a license to steal, a warrant for oppression." To her critics, such remarks are evidence of extremism."

May she not disappoint her critics, big time. Hehehehe...

[basque]

I wonder if Bush has the testicular fortitude to move Clarence Thomas to chief justice and to elevate this lady to the supreme court. The liberals would throw a hissy

[painter]

Same here!! I would love to meet her.