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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 27, 2003
Doug Kendall, 202-296-6889 x3
doug@communityrights.org
President Bush has broken his fundamental promise to the
nation concerning the judges he would appoint to the federal
bench. He promised the American people judges who would exercise
restraint and not make social policy from the bench. Yet there
is strong evidence that many of his nominees for lifetime
seats on the judiciary are hostile to our fundamental environmental
protections and will advance an anti-environmental policy
agenda with little regard for precedent and constitutional
text. For example:
- Sixth Circuit nominee Jeffrey S. Sutton is one of the
country's leading advocates for a virulent form of judicial
activism that would limit citizen access to justice and
seriously undermine the ability of the federal government
to protect the environment.
- Ninth Circuit nominee Carolyn Kuhl has advocated overturning
Supreme Court precedent in order to deny environmental and
other groups the standing to protect the rights of their
members in court. A Kuhl ruling, reversed on appeal, would
have nullified a critical part of a law designed to protect
public participation by citizens' groups.
- Victor Wolski, nominated to the Court of Federal Claims,
is a self-professed ideologue who has spent much of his
career working with an industry-funded legal group that
specializes in challenging environmental legislation in
court. As he told the National Journal in 1999, "every
single job I've taken since college has been ideologically
orientated, trying to further my principles."
The environmental community has worked tirelessly for 30
years to pass strong laws that protect public health, safety,
and the environment. Environmentalists ask only that President
Bush appoint fair judges who will act with restraint, be faithful
to precedent, and uphold and enforce the laws against pollution
passed by Congress. Unfortunately, too many of the judges
nominated to date by President Bush fail this simple test.
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