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Talking
Points
Ashcroft
Nomination as Attorney General
John
Ashcroft's Record Demonstrates That He Does Not Possess
the Qualities Necessary to Retain the Department of Justice's
Ongoing Committment to Enforce and Defend Our Nation's Civil
Rights Laws, Promote Equality and Justice for All Americans,
and Ensure the Rule of Law.
The Attorney General is responsible for vigorous enforcement
of our nation's civil rights laws - pursuing those laws
in a fair, vigorous and consistent manner.
- Ashcroft
has opposed appropriately tailored race-conscious measures
designed to remedy present and past discrimination. He
even opposes programs that are constitutionally permissible
under current Supreme Court precedent
- He
repeatedly sponsored legislation to end affirmative action
programs in employment, contracting and public programs.
He sponsored legislation to end the Department of Transportation's
Disadvantaged Minority and Women Business Program. He
also sponsored legislation to make provisions similar
to California's Proposition 209 - which banned affirmative
action - a part of federal law.
- He
opposed Bill Lann Lee because Mr. Lee expressed support
for constitutionally permissible affirmative action programs
- applying an ideological litmus test to this nomination
as he has with judicial nominations. Senator Ashcroft's
efforts helped to prevent a vote before the full United
States Senate.
- As
Attorney General and then as Governor, Ashcroft vigorously
opposed efforts to desegregate St. Louis' public schools.
His opposition was so great that the court almost ordered
the State in contempt citing "continual delay and
failure to comply" with a court order to submit a
voluntary desegregation plan.
- Governor
Ashcroft vetoed legislation that would have allowed private
non-profit, civic, religious and political groups to register
voters in the City of St Louis, he later vetoed a bill
that would have allowed such registration in all of Missouri.
- During
testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Ashcroft
said that he believed in and supported the President's
ideas which he termed "affirmative access" -
already at work in California, Texas and Florida. He calls
these programs which end affirmative action and have curtailed
meaningful equal educational opportunities for women and
minorities - a "good idea."
The
Attorney General is the gate keeper to the federal judiciary
- playing a key role in who the President selects for the
federal bench.
- Ashcroft
has repeatedly blocked the consideration of qualified
nominees. His record shows that, as a Senator, he has
repeatedly used tactics to block and delay votes on qualified
women and minorities nominated to the federal courts.
- Senator
Ashcroft's decisive role in sabotaging the nomination
of a well-qualified African American, Judge Ronnie White,
to the federal bench points to his disregard for judicial
independence and his willingness to use ideological litmus
tests in the judicial selection process.
- Ashcroft
spearheaded the party-line vote to defeat Judge Ronnie
White's confirmation to a federal district court judgeship.
He did this by misrepresenting Judge White's record, labeling
him pro-criminal because of his death penalty record even
though White voted to uphold the death penalty over 70%
of the time.
The
Attorney General should have the temperament, objectivity
and commitment to fairness necessary to carry out the awesome
responsibilities of Attorney General
- Ashcroft's
fervent and long-term commitment to his extremist political
beliefs call into question his ability to suppress those
political beliefs and enforce the constitutional principles
with which he so profoundly disagrees. This extremist
ideology also raises questions about his objectivity.
- As
a member of the Senate he made racially insensitive comments
to Southern Partisan magazine which were divisive. Ashcroft
applauded the magazine for its "heritage of doing
that, of defending Southern patriots like [Robert E.]
Lee, [Stonewall] Jackson, and [Jefferson] Davis.'"
Southern Partisan has printed articles stating that African
Americans, Hispanics, Asians, and other immigrants have
"'no temperament for democracy, never had, [and]
never will'" and that these groups have dissipated
the nation's "'genetic race pool.'"
- He
further demonstrated his racial insensitivity when as
a United States Senator - from a state with over 500,000
African Americans - he gave a commencement address and
received an honorary degree from Bob Jones University,
a school known for its racist policies and anti-catholic
bigotry. Although Ashcroft has claimed that he did not
know about the policies of the University, he has refused
to return the degree. The credibility of his denial is
called into question when as Governor he declined to appoint
a professor to a state judgeship who had made supportive
comments of the University in a law review article.
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TO:
Board of Directors and Trustees of the Lawyers’ Committee
for Civil Rights Under Law; Local Affiliates and Friends
of the Lawyers’ Committee
FROM:
Barbara R. Arnwine, Thomas J. Henderson and Diane L. Gross
CALL
SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE TO OPPOSE CLASS ACTION FAIRNESS
ACT
The
Class Action Fairness Act of 2003 (“Class Action Act”)
will be voted on by the Senate Judiciary Committee this
week. The Class Action Act is extremely problematic for
the civil rights community because of its impact on federal
civil rights class actions and the restrictions that it
places on class action plaintiffs and settlements. It would
also substantially alter the jurisdiction of federal and
all state courts. If passed, this bill would: remove most
state court, state-law class actions into federal court;
clog the federal courts with state law cases and make it
more difficult to have federal civil rights cases heard;
deter people from bringing class actions; and impose costly
and unjustified burdens on settlement of class actions.
The
Lawyers’ Committee joins with many civil rights groups
in opposing the Class Action Act because of its impact on
the enforcement of our nation’s civil rights laws.
The enforcement of civil rights laws is vital to ensure
that victims of discrimination can obtain relief from unlawful
practices. It is critical that this Act be stopped, otherwise
new barriers will prevent victims of discrimination from
achieving equal justice.
WHAT
IS NEEDED?:
Contact Senate Judiciary members at (202)225-3121 -
tell them to oppose the Class Action Fairness Act, S. 274.
We
urgently request that all of those concerned with preventing
this damaging legislation from passing call members of the
Senate Judiciary Committee. Tell them that they should oppose
the Class Action Fairness Act because:
-
This bill will amend federal law to allow corporate defendants
and others to remove to federal court almost all state
class actions. Our federal courts will be overloaded and
the resolution of cases will be delayed, including a majority
of civil rights claims as well as environmental, labor
and other federal claims.
- This
bill will discourage individuals from bringing class actions
by prohibiting named plaintiffs
from receiving full relief for their claims. The bill
prohibits courts from approving settlements that allow
a greater share of relief to a class representative than
all members of the class, making named plaintiffs sacrifice
full relief as the price of trying to protect others.
- Proponents
of the legislation want to marginalize the role of some
local juries and judges in deciding whether or not to
hold businesses responsible – most of the areas proponents
have identified as plaintiff-friendly "judicial hellholes"
are counties where most of the citizens are black and
Hispanic. Proponents express concern that juries composed
of these citizens tend to decide cass
based on “rhetoric and emotional appeals" rather
than “focus[ing] on individual responsibility.”
TARGET
SENATORS
Specter (R-PA)
Dewine(R-OH)
Feinstein(D-CA)
Kohl(D-WI)
Hatch(R-UT)
Schumer(D-NY)
FOR
MORE INFORMATION CONTACT DIANE GROSS AT (202)662-8600 or
dgross@lawyerscomm.org.
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