Happy 30th AFJ!



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Alliance for Justice's Birthday

Happy 30th Birthday, Alliance for Justice!

Hundreds of supporters gathered to celebrate 30 years in which Alliance for Justice has been leading the fight for a more equitable society on behalf of a broad constituency of environmental, consumer, civil and women’s rights, children’s, senior citizens’ and other groups.

The Vision for Justice luncheon featured keynote speakers Dahlia Lithwick, Senior Editor and Legal Correspondent for Slate; and Gara LaMarche, President and CEO of The Atlantic Philanthropies.

Elmy Bermejo, Director of the Latino Issues Forum, was Master of Ceremonies, and of course, Nan Aron, President and Founder of Alliance for Justice gave remarks. 
» Read more on our Justice Watch blog. 

Battle for the Courts 

Alliance for Justice co-sponsored a panel at today’s America’s Future Now conference on the importance of the courts. Nan Aron, President of AFJ, introduced the session by reminding the audience that while the nomination of Sotomayor is an historic, ground breaking event, that is just the beginning.

Hundreds of federal judges will be appointed during the Obama administration. We have to take this opportunity to start the conversation that has long been denied about the role of courts and judges in America. President Obama has expressed his intent to raise the level of that conversation above the empty rhetoric of “judicial activism" and "legislating from the bench.”
» Read more on our Justice Watch blog. 

Somber News

On Sunday, well-known reproductive rights advocate Dr. George Tiller was shot to death in his church while attending services. Dr. Tiller was one of the few practitioners in the U.S. supporting late-term abortion in instances related to rape, incest and the mother’s health and served as Medical Director of the Women's Health Care Services clinic in Wichita, Kansas.

We are deeply saddened by the killing of Dr. Tiller, who put his life on the line as an advocate and provider of vital services to women and families. He had lived through a previous assassination attempt, as well as multiple assaults and bombings on his clinic, but through those threats of violence he courageously continued his work.
» Read more on our Justice Watch blog.  

This Week's Headlines

The Howls of a Fading Species
"One can only hope that the hysterical howling of right-wingers against the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court is something approaching a death rattle for this profoundly destructive force in American life.

"It’s hard to fathom the heights of hypocrisy currently being scaled by the foaming-in-the-mouth crazies who are leading the charge against the nomination. Newt Gingrich, who never needed a factual basis for his ravings, rants on Twitter that Judge Sotomayor is a 'Latina woman racist,' apparently unaware of his incoherence in the 'Latina-woman' redundancy in this defamatory characterization."
»  Read more in the New York Times.

The 'Radical' Who Isn't
"If Sonia Sotomayor is a radical activist eager to push the law leftward or to rule according to personal whims rather than constitutional commands, she's done an impressive job of hiding it all these years. The amazing thing about the case against Sotomayor is how thin it is. The now-famous 32 words about a wise Latina judge. Her vote -- part of a unanimous three-judge panel -- against white firefighters denied promotions. The YouTube comment about judges making policy. And not much else."
»  Read more in the Washington Post.

AP poll finds support for Sotomayor confirmation
"Americans have a more favorable first impression of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor than they did for any of President George W. Bush's choices for the high court, according to a new Associated Press-GfK poll.  The public also backs her confirmation in higher numbers.

"The poll, released Tuesday, said that roughly a third of the country has a favorable view of Sotomayor, while 18 percent view her unfavorably. Half of those polled say she should be confirmed; 22 percent oppose her confirmation."
»  Read more in the Associated Press.

A Senator Who's Seen the Other Side
“For Jeff Sessions, this moment has been 23 years in the making.  If things had gone as planned in 1986, the conservative Alabama prosecutor would have been confirmed to a lifetime appointment to a federal judgeship. But allegations of racism cast Sessions as a throwback to the Jim Crow South, and the Senate Judiciary Committee voted down his nomination. Stunned and embarrassed, Sessions returned home to Mobile as a man undone.

"Soon he turned to politics, was elected to the Senate and joined the very committee that denied him a seat on the federal bench. He ascended from behind the scenes to the panel's top Republican spot, and it now falls to him to weigh the GOP's competing interests and political calculations while guiding the fractured party through the upcoming confirmation hearings of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor. Yesterday, the judge went to the Capitol for private meetings with Sessions and other key senators.” 
»  Read more in the Washington Post.

Empathy vs. Darth Vader — for Judgeships
"On Judge David Hamilton, the Judiciary panel voted along party lines, 12-7, to approve him for a position on the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. Mr. Hamilton has been a federal trial judge in Indiana since 1994, and he once served as counsel to Evan Bayh, while he was governor before becoming a senator. But at an earlier stage of Judge Hamilton’s nomination, Republicans, including Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma, had threatened to filibuster his nomination. Whether they’ll do so now remains a question."
»  Read more in the New York Times.

Bill Proposes Immigration Rights for Gay Couples
"Senator Patrick J. Leahy, the Democrat from Vermont who is the powerful chairman of the Judiciary Committee, is adding another controversial ingredient to the volatile mix of an immigration debate that President Obama has said he hopes to spur in Congress before the end of the year.

"Mr. Leahy has offered a bill that would allow American citizens and legal immigrants to seek residency in the United States for their same-sex partners, just as spouses now petition for foreign-born husbands and wives."
»  Read more in the New York Times.

A War Against Organizing
"For the vast majority of workers who want to join unions today, the right to organize and bargain collectively -- free from coercion, intimidation and retaliation -- is at best a promise indefinitely deferred. In election campaigns overseen by the National Labor Relations Board, it is now standard practice for companies to subject workers to threats, interrogation, harassment, surveillance and retaliation for union activity.

"The failure of the system to defend workers' rights in a timely manner multiplies the obstacles workers face when seeking union representation, creating delays that favor employers. Employers appeal a high percentage of the cases to the NLRB, and in the most egregious instances, the employer can count on a final decision being held up by three to five years."
»  Read more in the Washington Post.

 AFJ In the News

Supremely Civil Ads ... So Far
"These early ads lack the vitriol of some that have run against previous nominees to the high court. In 2005, for instance, we wrote about one that falsely implied nominee John Roberts had supported abortion clinic bombers. Then again, it's likely that at least two months will pass before Sotomayor's nomination comes up for a vote in the full Senate – plenty of time for these and other groups to cut more ads. We'll keep readers posted on any new spots, but meanwhile, here's our take on the current crop.

The Judicial Confirmation Network has been in operation for several years, while the Coalition for Constitutional Values is populated by several well-known organizations normally active on the liberal side of judicial nominations, including the Alliance for Justice."

»  Read the full article in Newsweek.

Watch the Coalition for Constitutional Values spot, Justice.

Debate: Should Sotomayor Be Confirmed?

"Schieffer asked Nan Aron, President of the pro-Sotomayor Alliance For Justice, about this comment from Sotomayor: 'I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life.' The statement prompted charges of racism from Rush Limbaugh and others.

"'For the most part, you want a Supreme Court that is filled with judges from different backgrounds that represent different viewpoints and bring their own experiences to the process of decision making, and the fact that she is a Latina I think enables her to bring that different viewpoint,' said Aron. 'And I think it's a little bit silly of people to say that when you're nominated for a judgeship and become a judge that you don't bring those experiences. Of course you do.'"

»  Watch the full discussion on CBS.