Marco Rubio Slammed By CBC - Senator Accused of Obstruction in Florida Judicial Appointments

The confirmations of two African-American judicial candidates in Florida are being held up by U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio and Congressional Black Caucus leaders are demanding action for what they call negligence and obstruction on the part of the senator.

Brian Davis, a nominee for the U.S. District Court for the Middle District, and William Thomas, a candidate for the U.S District Court for the Southern District, both made it through Florida’s Federal Judicial Nominating Commission, which routinely makes recommendations to state senators who meet the candidates and send letters of initial approval to the White House.

“The picture is large and disconcerting,” said Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), a ranking member of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC).

“While the president has kept pace and often surpassed prior presidents in black judicial appointments, a disproportionate number of African-American nominees have been held up or slowed. The CBC will not quietly allow highly-qualified African-American judges to be sidelined without hearings or to be held up on the Senate floor,” she said.

Currently, 30 percent of judicial nominees pending confirmation in the Senate are black. “CBC members will continue to highlight African-American judicial nominees in Florida whose confirmations have been stalled due to negligence and obstruction by Rubio,” CBC Chair Marcia Fudge said.

For his part, Rubio (R-Fla.) said he shares concerns about Davis, 60, that were raised in 2012 after the judge alleged that former U.S. Surgeon General Joycelyn Elders was forced to resign the position because she is black. Elders faced a backlash after making controversial comments at a United Nations Conference on AIDS in 1994.

Davis later said he made the comments while giving a speech about race relations in America, but admitted they were inappropriate for a judge.

Rubio noted that his concern about Thomas, 46, is based on the judge’s involvement in a case in which he sentenced a man to 364 days in jail for the hit-and-run death of a cyclist, which Rubio considered to be far too lenient. Thomas is the first openly gay black judicial nominee for the federal courts.

CBC members said Rubio and others are simply playing politics to prevent the installation of two black judges.

Fudge, 60, and Norton, 76, each pointed out that Davis’ nomination has been pending for more than 500 days and that Thomas has been waiting for more than 230 days. Fudge said both vacancies come at a time when the federal district court system is backlogged and struggling with a 10 percent judicial vacancy rate.

African-American judges also are underrepresented in the federal judiciary. Of the 787 judges currently serving on the federal bench, 95 – or 8 percent – are African American. Judicial nominations of African Americans are also routinely held up by the Senate, CBC officials said. Nearly one-third, or 10 out of 33, of the judicial nominees currently pending in the Senate are African Americans.

“In Florida, we all have heavy hearts concerning the Trayvon Martin case,” said Rep. Corrine Brown (D-Fla.). “But part of the problem is that we don't feel that the judicial system is fair. Clearly, it's not fair. And you need people to feel confident that we will take care to make sure that we have representation throughout the system. We need our senators to step up to the plate,” said Brown, 66.

For the record, “Queers on Courts” has been tried - nad produced egregious perversion of justice.

IIRC, Prop 8 was heard before a closeted queer who did not recuse himself.

Perhaps, the ban on queers as “an abomination” which allegedly came from a reliable source, might be worth consideration?

Rubio has made a good call in the case of ‘The Queer Who Would Be Judge” and arguably produce more rulings as did that other “Queer Judge”.

“Queer Judges” -Bah! HUMBUGGERY! !

” Senator Lee. Thank you.
With the Chair’s indulgence, I would like to just follow-up
on this a little bit more and make sure we have covered the
ground. Thank you for your answer and I appreciate and agree
with the fact that there are few issues that have been more
contentious in American history or that are more important to
our day-to-day lives than those issues that involve race
relations. And so I appreciate your concern for this issue.
I also appreciate your statement to the effect that as a
sitting judge, it would not be your inclination to make
statements like those ones again.
But I want to follow-up on another statement made in the
same speech on kind of a different vein. You refer to the fact
that on September 12, 1995, ``400 people protest outside the
home of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas because of his
opinions in rulings affecting affirmative action and voting
rights, reminding us, lest we forget, how easy it is for some
of us to forget history.’’
So to some extent, I think what this is insinuating is that
that particular member of the Court, Justice Thomas, has
forgotten history.
So my question to you is, as an Article 3 judge within the
Federal judiciary, does this statement reflect or would you
otherwise experience difficulty employing decisions rendered by
the Supreme Court authored by Justice Thomas?
Judge Davis. Not at all, Senator. Actually, that particular
reference was to the sentiment as being expressed by the
protestors. I respect Justice Thomas as a sitting member of the
United States Supreme Court. When he is in the majority, his
decisions are the law of this land. And as a sitting judge,
Article 3 or otherwise, I’m bound to support and apply that
law, and that would be my—that has been understanding and that
would continue to be my intention, whether I am confirmed or
not.
As a judge, I think the Supreme Court’s authority, when
applicable, is controlling.
Senator Lee. So your criticism in there was not directed
toward the Justice, it was directed toward the protestors. Do I
understand that correctly?
Judge Davis. I was echoing the—I was echoing the criticism
of the protestors in trying to motivate an audience to action
around matters of race.
Senator Lee. Does this also fit into the category of
statements that, as an Article 3 Federal judge, you might not
be inclined to make?
Judge Davis. I think it does only because I am confident it
is improper for sitting judges to comment on the decisions and
disagreement with the decisions of sitting judges.
It not only would be proper as an Article 3 judge, my
acknowledgment to you today is that it was probably improper
for me to do it then.
Senator Lee. Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate that.”
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CHRG-112shrg76131/html/CHRG-112shrg76131.htm

Not qualified.

Full evisceration of Federal Government, removal of all positions in Gov. Get rid of EVERYTHING but the BARE necessities, fund the military, defense, and borders.

Then leave everything else up to individual states.

Make lobbying illegal. All sessions of congress taped and overseen by an independent committee. All officials supervised and monitored so they aren’t making back room deals. Impose term limits, lower the pay to executive/judicial/legislative jobs to something ONLY people that care would choose to gather.

Make being in government NON PROFITABLE and you remove most of our problems. Seriously, it’s all about the money and the power.

What do you do with a banana that has a few bruises on it? You cut the bruises off and eat the rest.

What do you do with a banana that is completely rotten that none of it can be eaten? You throw it out and get a new one.

I believe that the government has become so rotten, that we cannot fix it. We need to hit the reset button and make a new one, with the constitution as a starting foundation, but not encourage corruption(which comes from power and the accumulation of wealth).

You take the money and power away from government employees you take away a lot of the problems we have with our elected officials....we don’t serve them, they serve us. This further reinforces these beliefs. It has come to the point where the people are serving the government, it’s not what was intended, and it is our duty to right the wrongs.

Now I’m not saying everyone is corrupt, but I would bet my last dollar that more are, than honest.

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