Eagle Forum|
PART I
AMERICA AT CRITICAL CROSSROADS —
MASSIVE GRASSROOTS COURT REFORM CAMPAIGN NEEDED NOW!
When President Bush nominated 11 individuals to the U.S. Court of Appeals on May 9, 2001, he explained
"the standards by which I will choose all federal judges." He said: "Every judge I appoint will be a
person who clearly understands the role of a judge is to interpret the law, not to legislate from the
bench. To paraphrase James Madison, the courts exist to exercise not the will of men, but the
judgment of law. My judicial nominees will know the difference."
That is precisely why liberal Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee--even before they regained
control of the Senate -- attempted to demand a patently unconstitutional "automatic veto" over President
Bush's judicial picks via a so-called "blue slip'' policy, wherein Senate Democrats would be able to veto a
judicial nominee from his or her home state. That is also why now as the majority party controlling the
agenda they are seeking to wield every procedural means possible to unfairly delay, obstruct and otherwise
halt the consideration of the President's conservative judicial picks. Some observers are predicting that
Democrats may try to block as many appointees as possible from being considered until after the mid-term
elections. But it is more likely that they will soon begin waging a "war of attrition" visiting the same type
of unconscionable attacks on Bush judges as those that were heaped upon Attorney General John Ashcroft
during his confirmation hearings. Their opposition strategy to block judicial nominees will include attempts
to:
Liberal Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee have been fierce and have plainly stated that
beginning with Bush's initial federal court selections--and leading up to his potential Supreme Court
nominees-- they intend to combat all picks that adhere to any form of constitutional judicial restraint. As it
was declared by Judiciary Committee member Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) following the assault on
Ashcroft: "It's a shot across the bow in terms of the Justice Department and how it conducts itself. It's a shot
across the bow in terms of Supreme Court nominations. I'm proud of the job we did." Schumer is "proud"
that he and his colleagues, particularly Senators Kennedy and Leahy, subjected Ashcroft to nearly 12 hours
of outright attacks on his personal and religious convictions, mingled with baseless charges of racism and
frequent pious lecturings on his failure to pay sufficient homage to "a woman's right to choose." The
Democrats then followed up by further assailing him with over 400 written questions. Indeed, the battle over
John Ashcroft's nomination did serve to dramatically demonstrate the left's ongoing relentless efforts to
wrest the definition of "controlling legal authority" from its constitutional moorings -- largely through the
process of seating as many liberal activist judges as possible on the federal bench while pulling out all the
stops to derail from key government positions any who disagree with that goal.
Schumer is now new chairman of the Administrative Oversight & the Courts subcommittee and recently
conducted a hearing designed to justify Democrats' intent to utilize ideological litmus tests in their
dissection of conservative judicial picks. Democrats appear to be paving the way to proceed with all forms
of character assassination in an effort to "Bork" every conservative judge that comes before them. But they
will not succeed in this unconstitutional and destructive course of action if every concerned American rises
up now
BEGIN NOW TO CALL or WRITE -- USE OUR NEW LOBBYING GUIDE!
In order to combat liberal Democratic control of the Judiciary Committee and counteract their attempts to
apply ideological litmus tests and generally wage war on the President's restraintist judicial nominees, we
need a massive uprising from the grassroots and must re-double our efforts as follows:
We must now generate an outpouring of calls and letters to the chairman of the Senate Judiciary
Committee & its members, and to all Senators, (see sample letter).
We must also write President Bush encouraging him to stay the course, (see sample letter).
We must write, fax and e-mail Letters-to-the-Editor regarding this critical issue facing the nation,
(see sample letter). See suggested publications listed in the accompanying lobbying guide.
We must now create a sustained campaign of public education/activation in the media. (See "How
to Promote Court Reform in the Media" lobbying guide).
You will also find accompanying talking points with timely articles, useful quotes from key leaders and
suggested prayer guidelines. Please both widely distribute and wisely utilize these important resources to
help lobby and educate as many of your fellow Americans as possible about this, the Number One
domestic issue facing our nation.
Former President Bill Clinton had eight years to stack the courts with leftist activist judges. Clinton federal
judges have:
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