BOTH SIDES--RIGHT AND RIGHTER:

Opinions, speeches may be two sides of Justice Brown (Claire Cooper, 11/01/03, Sacramento Bee)

The chief problem for Brown, though, wasn't her public work judging cases. It was a collection of scorching speeches that few were aware of before her federal court nomination.

The addresses, delivered before conservative legal organizations, have come back to haunt her as her nomination heads for a committee vote and then a possible filibuster on the Senate floor.

In one speech Brown blamed government for the ruin of civil society and seemed to want to disband it. "Where government moves in, community retreats, civil society disintegrates and our ability to control our own destiny atrophies," she said.

In others she seemed to advocate a dog-eat-dog theory of constitutional interpretation that prevailed a century ago, when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down worker safety and anti-child labor laws. The theory has been almost universally discredited for close to 70 years.

Under questioning by Judiciary Committee members, Brown denied hating government. And, while she did not repudiate the views she had expressed, she said, "I absolutely understand the difference in roles in being a speaker and being a judge."

Still, the speeches worried some committee members. "Is that the real you?" asked Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.

She may not find out any time soon. Even longtime associates disagree which Brown is real.

Both sides look pretty good.

MORE:
-A Lynch Mob Gathers Around Justice Janice Rogers Brown: Part 3 (Thomas Sowell, October 23, 2003, Capitalism)

Senator Schumer is prepared to deny other Senators the right to vote yes or no on Justice Brown. He has turned the Senate's Constitutional duty to "advise and consent" on judicial nominees into the Senate minority's ability to delay and obstruct.

Such extremist tactics are especially ironic from those who have tried to portray Justice Brown as an "extremist" right-winger who would be dangerous on the federal bench. The fact that Justice Brown received a 76 percent vote of approval from California voters in an election to confirm her appointment to the state Supreme Court hardly fits the label that Senator Schumer and other liberal Democrats are trying to pin on her.

California voters are hardly known for being on the far right. Yet they gave Janice Rogers Brown the highest vote of approval among the four justices on the same ballot.

The truth carries little weight -- if any -- in political efforts to block judicial nominees. What matters is whether enough special interest groups are determined to block that person.

Posted by Orrin Judd at November 2, 2003 12:10 AM