...the United States Senate just confirmed Janice Rogers Brown to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals!
The first African-American woman to serve on the California Supreme Court, Justice Brown truly embodies the American Dream.
Born in Greenville, Alabama as a daughter of sharecroppers, she attended segregated schools throughout her childhood.
She went on to earn her B.A. from California State in 1974, and her J.D. from the UCLA School of Law in 1977.
She has dedicated all but two years of her distinguished twenty-six year legal career to public service.
Justice Brown's confirmation is a blow to the partisan campaign of judicial obstruction that blocked a fair up or down vote for 10 nominees in the last Congress.
As they have done so against many other qualified nominees, Democrats leveled harsh, heated and, I believe, unfair criticisms of Justice Brown.
You may recall some of what was said in recent months:
"This woman is living on another planet, and we were right to stop her from getting on the bench."
"This is not the kind of judge who should be on the nation's second most powerful court."
She is among the "worst of the worst."
As with the recent confirmation of Priscilla Owen, today marks great progress.
Justice Brown's confirmation is in keeping with the principle of fair up or down votes for judicial nominees.
And we will continue to insist that principle--which stood for 214 years of Senate history--stands in this Congress.
It's been a long road, but today Janice Rogers Brown--a compassionate woman, accomplished lawyer and jurist--got the vote and the respect she deserves.
Stay tuned ... more such announcements to follow.
Bill Frist
Does anyone have an e-mail address where we could send her congratulations?