Obstruction of Justice: Daschle and Leahy Guilty of Judicial Profiling

Onsite Report: Rally to Free President Bush’s Judicial Nominees
Upper Senate Park, Washington, DC (Thursday, 20 June 2002)

No Conservatives Need Apply. As the Big Hillbilly Bluegrass Band played in the sweltering noon sun, the leaders of some of America’s largest conservative organizations, as well as over 100 supporters gathered in the Upper Senate Park in an attempt to transfer some heat to Senators Tom Daschle (D-SD) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT) for their continued efforts to derail President Bush’s judicial nominees. Sponsored by the Coalition for a Fair Judiciary, this rally marked day 406 since President Bush announced his first judicial nominees. Of those eleven nominees, only three (two of which are registered Democrats) have received full Senate votes.

At approximately 12:15, Radio talk show host and event emcee, Laura Ingraham stepped to the microphone and opened with a brief story of hypocrisy. It appears that when the Republicans controlled the Senate, Senator Leahy was on record as saying that within 60 days every nominee should have a vote. (If this is truly his position) “Why in the last two months have we had no Federal Circuit Court nominees considered by the Judiciary Committee?” asked Ingraham. “Not one has been passed through the committee for a full vote on the Senate floor. The light of honesty and truth has got to shine on this process.”

Ingraham, who has been invited to speak at the First Annual Free Republic Conference, began the event with former Attorney General Edwin Meese who declared that this judiciary crisis is an unprecedented situation in American history and one of the most important causes facing our country today.

“We’ve never had a situation like this where we have had so many judicial nominees held up for such a long period of time. Today, under the current leadership of the Senate and under the leadership of the senate judiciary committee, the conduct would be more appropriate to some banana republic, where individual fiat determines who is to judge or who is receiving an appointment rather than the constitutional method which has been prescribed and which has been followed now for over 200 years.”

Meese affirmed that the main reason behind this judicial crisis is that the current leadership of the Senate and the Judiciary committee are beholding to and being run by a group of leftwing extremists. “These extremists have tried to impose upon the people of these United States their ideas through the legislative process and have been rebuffed, because people don’t want their ideas. And now they are trying to get liberal judges appointed to the bench and if they can’t get liberal judges, no judges appointed to the bench, in order that they can achieve through litigation what they can’t get through legislation by the peoples’ representatives. And that is really at the bottom of what we are talking about today.”

Meese feared that these tactics practiced by the Democrats would ultimately cost us our independent judiciary. Said Meese, “We must end the subservience to leftwing extremist organizations and get back to constitutional governing in all three branches of government.”

As the program continued, Sandy Rios, President of Concerned Women for America recognized that, “The American people, as we know, simply do not support the far left political agenda. And the far left needs activist political judges to impose it. President Bush has pledged to appoint judges who will simply follow the law and leave running the country and defining the culture to ‘We the people.’ The choice is not about how judges will run the country the choice is about whether we the people or they the judges will run the country. Defending our freedom requires fighting for the kind of judges President Bush has been nominating. We call on Senate Republicans to find their courage and tell the American people the truth about this confirmation crisis and fight for the judges who will support our freedoms.”

There was a broad coalition participating in this fight. Rich Tafel, Executive Director of the Log Cabin Republicans, agreed that people should be judged on their merit and that the only reason these judges are being discriminated against is because President Bush nominated them. “Discrimination in the name of civil rights makes no sense,” offered Tafel. Misusing the words “extremist” and “bigot” against good people is going to have a corrosive and detrimental effect on our society for years to come. “Because very good people are not going to want to run for political office; they are not going to want to run and serve as judges. We call upon the Senate Democrats to stop the smear campaign and speak the truth about these judges.”

Ken Connor, President of the Family Research Council stated that, Senators Daschle and Leahy “have shown the will and resolve to continue holding the Constitution hostage for as long as they are able to get away with it. Our job is to make darn sure that they don’t get away with it any longer. As President Reagan once said it’s not always necessary that the congress see that light as long as they feel the heat.” He urged all of us to turn the heat up on the Senate Judiciary committee so “we that we can restore and regain our right of constitutional self government.”

Trueblackman, Government & Political Affairs Director for the African American Republican Leadership Council got the crowd going with his remarks. Acknowledging that these judges are not being considered because they are “outside the mainstream,” TBM wondered when did Senators Daschle, Leahy, Clinton, and Kennedy join the mainstream? They want to talk about racial profiling, well “What about nomination profiling?” That is what is going on inside the Senate today. The message they are sending to nominees like Miguel Estrada is that “you can come here and you can work your way up to the top but if you happen to be prolife or you happen to be conservative, forget it kid. This is nomination and racial profiling at its worse. Maybe John Ashcroft should be sending some agents up here to Capitol Hill.”

James Martin, President, 60 Plus Association wrote, “President George Bush has performed a remarkable job in nominating 100 individuals to serve on these courts. These individuals have received either ‘qualified’ or ‘well-qualified’ ratings from the American Bar Association, the ‘gold standard’ for nominees according to the Democrats.”

“And yet these nominations languish. And why? Because the Democratic leadership in the Senate is applying a litmus test checking with liberal special interest groups for approval and putting these nominees through difficult hurdles. While no one gets 100 per cent of judges confirmed promptly, 88% of Clinton’s judges were confirmed in his first year compared to a miniscule 20% of Bush’s in his first year. This is politics at its worst. It is hurting the American People.”

Robert Fike, Federal Affairs Manager, Americans for Tax Reform submitted, “…one of the reasons we establish governments in the first place is to create and maintain an orderly system for the fair resolution of disputes. But without enough qualified judges to handle the caseload, the system cannot function adequately.”

“The Senate is not satisfying its constitutional responsibility to maintain the nation’s judicial system. Deliberately leaving more than one out of every ten seats on the federal bench unoccupied is dereliction of duty. Doing so as a political maneuver during an election year while masquerading behind ‘principle’ is nothing short of galling. We may very well need a new Senate more than we need new judges.”

Thanks for all the great pictures, Skeet, and "Hats off to you and the crew!"

Here is a copy of an email I got recently about the 50 bills that are stalled with Daschle.

Right now there are 50 important bills that have already passed the House of Representatives, but are slowly dying on Senator Tom Daschle's desk -- including:

--Faith-based solutions to welfare (10 months)
--Ban all human cloning (9 months)
--Oil embargo protection bill (14 months)
--Make our tax cuts permanent (2 months)

You took a stand with me to Keep The Tax Cuts. Now, I need your help to send Tom Daschle a message that it's time to take action on these bills.

Click below to sign a DEMAND LETTER that will be delivered to the Majority Leader's office:
Click here

The fact is, Sen. Daschle is doing everything in his power to block critical legislation that most certainly would benefit the American people!

Click below for a complete list of the "Daschle 50": Click here

To make matters worse, these bills will die on Sen. Daschle's desk if they do not come up for a vote in this session of Congress!

This is political posturing at its worst. That's why I have joined together with other members of Congress to launch a nationwide petition demanding that the liberal Senate leadership free the dozens of bills that are being held up for vote.

Click below to join the thousands of Americans who are telling the Senate leader to "FREE THE DASCHLE FIFTY"

Click here

My plan is to rally 100,000 signed Demand Letters in the next 45 days and to personally put them on the desk of Sen. Daschle!

But we must hurry. Without your support, these bills will perish, and all the work that we have done to strengthen our families and protect our nation will be wasted.

That's why I'm counting on the overwhelming support of the American people to lead the way to victory!

Thank you for your help!

BILL TITLE DATE OF VOTE SUMMARY

H.R. 503 Unborn Victims of Violence Act 4/26/01 To protect unborn children from assault and murder, and for other purposes.

H.R. 2175 Born-Alive Infants Protection Act 3/12/02 To protect infants who are born alive.

H.R. 7 Community Solutions Act of 2001 7/19/01 Provisions to encourage charitable giving through: (1) expanded tax deductions; (2) expanding charitable choice to allow religious organizations to apply for federal funds; (3) encouraging low-income individuals to save for their first home, a college education, or small business.

H.R. 3210 Terrorism Risk Protection Act 11/20/01 In the event of a terrorist attack, the Secretary of the Treasury will determine when losses from one or more acts of terrorism result in insurance claims industry wide of over $1 billion and up to $20 billion during the coverage period of the measure.

H.R. 3005 Bipartisan Trade Promotion Authority Act of 2001 12/6/01 Gives the Administration the authority to negotiate and bring back trade agreements to Congress that will eliminate and reduce trade barriers relating to manufacturing, services, agriculture, intellectual property, investment, e-commerce, transparency, and regulatory practices. The bill supports reducing or eliminating subsidies that decrease market opportunities for U.S. agriculture or unfairly distort markets to the detriment of the United States.

H.R. 3529 Economic Security and Worker Assistance Act of 2001 12/19/01 To provide tax incentives for economic recovery and assistance to displaced workers.

H.R. 1900 Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act 9/20/01 Creates new requirements for ensuring that public child welfare records relating to a juvenile are made available to the juvenile court.

H.R. 2505 Human Cloning Prohibition Act of 2001 7/31/01 Ban on human cloning by prohibiting the use of somatic cell nuclear transfer techniques to create human embryos. This act bans both "therapeutic" (research) and reproductive cloning.

H.R. 3762 Pension Security Act 4/11/02 New protections and options for workers to help them preserve and enhance their retirement savings and restore worker confidence in the nation’s pension system.

H.Con. Res 353 FY 2003 Budget Resolution 3/21/02 Establishing the congressional budget for the United States Government for fiscal year 2003 and setting forth appropriate budgetary levels for each of fiscal years 2004 through 2007.

H.R. 586 Tax Relief Guarantee Act of 2002 4/18/02 To amend the Internal Revenue Code to make permanent the tax reductions, protect taxpayers and ensure accountability of the Internal Revenue Service.

H.R. 496 Independent Telecommunications Consumer Enhancement Act of 2001 3/21/01 Reduces the regulatory burden imposed upon “two percent” telecommunications carriers (companies having less than two percent of the nation’s telecommunications subscriber lines) so that they may more effectively respond to competition in rural and less-densely populated areas.

H.R. 624 Organ Donation Improvement Act of 2001 3/7/01 Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to carry out a program to educate the public with respect to organ donation, in particular, the need for additional organs for transplantation.

H.R. 1992 Internet Equity and Education Act of 2001 10/10/01 Expands access to higher education to all Americans regardless of their distance from a college or university.

H.R. 724 To authorize appropriations to carry out part B of title I of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act 3/6/01 Makes two technical corrections to last session’s reauthorization of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act.

H.R. 2983 Price-Anderson Reauthorization Act of 2001 11/27/01 Makes several changes to laws governing nuclear facilities.

H.R. 476 The Child Custody Protection Act 4/16/02 Makes it a Federal offense to knowingly transport a minor across a State line, with the intent that she obtain an abortion, in circumvention of a State's parental consent or parental notification law.

H.R. 2146 Two Strikes and You're Out Child Protection Act 3/14/02 Imposes a penalty of life in prison for persons convicted twice for sex crimes towards children that occur on Federal property.

H.R. 1542         Internet Freedom and Broadband Deployment Act of 2001 2/27/02 As reported from the Energy and Commerce Committee, deregulates high speed data and Internet access services by ending the application of legacy telephone regulations to broadband services.

H.R. 3160 Bioterrorism Enforcement Act of 2001 12/20/01 To amend the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 with respect to the responsibilities of the Secretary of Health and Human Services regarding biological agents and toxins, and to amend title 18, United States Code, with respect to such agents and toxins.

H.R. 974 Small Business Interest Checking Act of 2001 4/3/01 To repeal the prohibition on the payment of interest on demand deposits, to increase the number of interaccount transfers which may be made from business accounts at depository institutions, to authorize the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System to pay interest on reserves, and for other purposes.

H.R. 1408 Financial Services Antifraud Network Act of 2001 11/6/01 To safeguard the public from fraud in the financial services industry, to streamline and facilitate the antifraud information-sharing efforts of Federal and State regulators, and for other purposes.

H.R. 2589 Office of Multifamily Housing Assistance Restructuring Extension Act of 2001 9/24/01 Extends the Office of Multifamily Housing Assistance Restructuring through October 1, 2004.

H.R. 3060 Emergency Securities Response Act of 2001 11/13/01 Extends the time frame under the Securities and Exchange Commission's statutory emergency authority to 30 business days.

H.R. 2052 Sudan Peace Act (House has named conferees/Senate has not.) 6/13/01 Condemns human rights abuses in Sudan, encourages the peace process, condemns the use of food as a weapon, and encourages support for viable civil authorities and institutions in non-government controlled areas.

H.R. 2272 Coral Reef and Coastal Marine Conservation Act of 2001 10/16/01 Helps to protect the world's dwindling coral reefs through debt-for-nature swaps, debt buy backs, and debt restructuring instruments.

H.R. 2833 Vietnam Human Rights Act 9/6/01 Promotes the development of freedom and democracy in Viet Nam.

H.R. 2541 To enhance the authorities of special agents. 11/13/01 Enhances the authority of Special Agents

H.R. 741 Madrid Protocol Implementation Act 3/14/01 The purpose of the Madrid Protocol is to develop a low-cost international system for registering trademarks,

H.R. 860 Multidistrict 3/14/01 Amends the federal judicial code to remove impediments to consolidating certain lawsuits within the federal court system.

H.R. 863 Consequences for Juvenile Offenders Act 10/16/01 Authorizes $1.5 billion over three years for the Department of Justice to make grants to states and local governments to strengthen their juvenile justice systems.

H.R. 1209 Child Status Protection Act of 2001 6/6/01 Modifies the provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act that determine whether an alien is considered a child and eligible for permanent residence status as an immediate relative of a U.S. citizen.

H.R. 2047 Patent and Trademark Office Authorization Act of 2002 11/6/01 Authorizes the Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) to retain all of the user fee revenue it collects in FY 2002 for agency operations.

H.R. 3507 Coast Guard Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2002 12/19/01 Authorizes $5.9 billion for Coast Guard programs and activities in FY 2002.

H.R. 2501 Appalachian Regional Commission Reauthorization Act of 2001 8/3/01 To reauthorize the Appalachian Regional Development Act of 1965.

H.R. 2546 Real Interstate Driver Equity Act of 2001 11/13/01 Amends an existing federal transportation law.

H.R. 554 Rail Passenger Disaster Family Assistance Act of 2001 2/14/01 Assistance to families involved in rail accidents.

H.R. 691 Extension of Child Passenger Protection Grants 6/27/01 Provide incentives for states to implement child safety laws.

H.R. 3391 Medicare Regulatory and Contracting Reform Act of 2001 12/20/01 To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide regulatory relief and contracting flexibility under the Medicare Program

H.R. 3009 Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act 11/16/01 Extends and expands the Andean Trade Preference Act

H.R. 3008 Trade Adjustment Assistance Reauthorization Act 12/6/01 Reauthorizes for two years the three trade adjustment assistance programs: TAA for workers, TAA for firms, and NAFTA-TAA

H.R. 2722 Clean Diamond Trade Act 11/27/01 Ban all rough diamonds coming from any country that has not implemented effective control measures against conflict diamonds.

H.R. 1866 To clarify the basis for granting requests for reexamination of patents. 9/5/01 Protects existing patents

H.R. 642 Chesapeake Bay Office Reauthorization Act 4/3/01 Reauthorizes the Chesapeake Bay Office until September 30, 2006, and the development of small grants program.

H.R. 834 - National Trails System Willing Seller Act 3/13/01 Clarify Federal authority relating to land acquisition.

H.R. 3394 - Cyber Security Research and Development Act 2/7/02 Programs promoting innovative research in cybersecurity.

H.R. 3209 Anti-Hoax Terrorism 12/11/01 Makes it a felony to perpetrate a hoax related to biological, chemical, and nuclear, attacks.

H.R. 2341 Class Action Fairness Act of 2002 3/13/02 The measure establishes a Class Action Bill of Rights to prevent abuses in the class action system.

H.R. 3763 Corporate and Auditing Accountability 4/24/02 Protects investors by improving the accuracy and reliability of corporate disclosures made pursuant to the securities laws.

H.R. 3231 Immigration Reform and Accountability Act of 2002 4/25/02 Breaks the INS into two organizations that concentrate on different missions - administering immigration benefits and enforcing immigration laws.

H.R. 4700 Personal Responsibility 5/15/02 Reauthorizes and improves the program of block grants to States for temporary assistance for needy families (TANF), improves access to quality child care, and for other purposes.

H.R. 4546 National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2003 5/9/02 The measure emphasizes programs that will make America a safer place by improving our defenses against terrorists, rogue nations, and chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons.

H.R. 2899 Freedom Bonds Act To authorize the Secretary of Treasury" to issue Freedom Bonds in response to 9-11. Put on his desk 10/24/01.

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