Ted Kennedy and Judicial Nominations: Then and Now

04/08/2004

Ted Kennedy and Judicial Nominations: Then and Now

Senator Edward Kennedy in the September 21, 1999 Congresisonal Record on delays in voting on President Clinton's judicial nominees:

While Republican leaders play politics with the federal judiciary, countless individuals and businesses across the country are forced to endure needless delays in obtaining the justice they deserve. Justice is being delayed and denied in courtrooms across the country because of the unconscionable tactics of the Senate Republican majority.

The Washington Times today reports:

A Senate Judiciary Committee lawyer urged Sen. Edward M. Kennedy to use the judicial-confirmation process to affect an affirmative-action case to which she once had been a party.

When Olati Johnson worked as a lawyer for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), she represented students supporting the University of Michigan's affirmative-action program in the landmark court case that decided the constitutionality of race-based preferences in university admissions programs. As the case journeyed toward the Supreme Court, Ms. Johnson quit the NAACP and became a lawyer on the Senate Judiciary Committee for Mr. Kennedy, Massachusetts Democrat. There, in April 2002, she and Mr. Kennedy's chief legal counsel urged the influential Judiciary Committee member to stall a conservative nominee to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals until after that panel had ruled on the University of Michigan case. "The thinking is that the current 6th Circuit will sustain the affirmative-action program, but if a new judge with conservative views is confirmed before the case is decided, that new judge will be able, under 6th Circuit rules, to review the case and vote on it," Ms. Johnson wrote to Mr. Kennedy in a memo obtained by The Washington Times. ...

Mr. Kennedy yesterday declined to condemn his ex-staffers, and an aide halted a press conference after questions turned to the memo.

If delaying a nomination for the specific purpose of affecting the outcome of a particular case isn't playing "politics with the federal judiciary," what the heck is? Yet, instead of addressing his hypocrisy, all Ted can do is complain that the memo was "stolen."

Posted at 05:01 PM in SCOTUS and Con Law | Permalink

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Senator Edward Kennedy in the September 21, 1999 Congresisonal Record on delays in voting on President Clinton's judicial nominees:

While Republican leaders play politics with the federal judiciary, countless individuals and businesses across the country are forced to endure needless delays in obtaining the justice they deserve. Justice is being delayed and denied in courtrooms across the country because of the unconscionable tactics of the Senate Republican majority.

The Washington Times today reports:

A Senate Judiciary Committee lawyer urged Sen. Edward M. Kennedy to use the judicial-confirmation process to affect an affirmative-action case to which she once had been a party.

When Olati Johnson worked as a lawyer for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), she represented students supporting the University of Michigan's affirmative-action program in the landmark court case that decided the constitutionality of race-based preferences in university admissions programs. As the case journeyed toward the Supreme Court, Ms. Johnson quit the NAACP and became a lawyer on the Senate Judiciary Committee for Mr. Kennedy, Massachusetts Democrat. There, in April 2002, she and Mr. Kennedy's chief legal counsel urged the influential Judiciary Committee member to stall a conservative nominee to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals until after that panel had ruled on the University of Michigan case. "The thinking is that the current 6th Circuit will sustain the affirmative-action program, but if a new judge with conservative views is confirmed before the case is decided, that new judge will be able, under 6th Circuit rules, to review the case and vote on it," Ms. Johnson wrote to Mr. Kennedy in a memo obtained by The Washington Times. ...