Posted on 04/26/2005 4:33:02 PM PDT by hipaatwo
Janice Rogers Brown refuses to conduct herself under a cloister while milquetoast Republicans and hostile Democrats hold her career hostage for over two years and counting. The Los Angeles Times reports that Brown told an audience on Sunday that a cultural battle has formed in which people of faith face punishment from secularists for their beliefs:
Just days after a bitterly divided Senate committee voted along party lines to approve her nomination as a federal appellate court judge, California Supreme Court Justice Janice Rogers Brown told an audience Sunday that people of faith were embroiled in a "war" against secular humanists who threatened to divorce America from its religious roots, according to a newspaper account of the speech. ...
"These are perilous times for people of faith," she said, "not in the sense that we are going to lose our lives, but in the sense that it will cost you something if you are a person of faith who stands up for what you believe in and say those things out loud." ...
The Advocate quoted Brown as lamenting that America had moved away from the religious traditions on which it was founded.
"When we move away from that, we change our whole conception of the most significant idea that America has to offer, which is this idea of human freedom and this notion of liberty," she said.
She added that atheism "handed human destiny over to the great god, autonomy, and this is quite a different idea of freedom…. Freedom then becomes willfulness."
Of course, the folks at PFAW and others already aligned against Brown will use this speech to claim that she is an extremist, one much too dangerous to put on a federal appellate bench. They might have a difficult time convincing the overwhelming majority of people who attend religious services on a regular basis that believing in God makes one an extremist, but they will do their best to do so nonetheless. When they do, they will go further in proving Brown's point than she dared to go herself.
In fact, Brown's speech serves as a perfect test for Ralph Neas and Nan Aron. Her implication that faith has become a litmus test for political appointments practically dares her opposition to use it against her politically over the next two weeks. If the Democrats start quoting from the speech in debating her confirmation, then the flimsy pretense of Chuck Schumer's "deeply held personal beliefs" will have been finally stripped away from their arguments. Brown has upped the ante by forcing the Democrats to attack her faith and her philosophical underpinnings.
The Democrats won't hesitate to use it, of course, and in doing so they will have demonstrated precisely what she argued -- that people of faith cannot hope to be treated equally with secular athiests by the political elite of the Left.
I think Justice Brown may have more political savvy than we realized. Not only has she proven herself an excellent jurist, but she has courage and wit. She will not remain silent while her enemies unfairly trash her reputation and her record. If our appellate courts do not have room for a Janice Rogers Brown, then it only reflects the unworthiness of the people entrusted to confirm her into that position. If the Republicans cannot muster the votes to defend her nomination, then we all should be ashamed of ourselves for putting them in those seats.
She should have run against Boxer last year.
WONDERFUL.
THANKS TONS!
BTTT
I hope that President Bush sends JRB up as his FIRST nomination to SCOTUS!! I'd LOVE to watch the 'Rats try and rip her up in the committee hearing! Something tells me that she'll slap them down ten times harder than Ollie North did in the Iran-Contra hearings. 'Rats trash a great black female justice of faith? Think THAT would play in the black community! No; the 'Rats would be crushed bewteen the Radical Left and the black community! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
For all of their posturing and maneuvering in the dark, I seriously doubt the Democrats have the b*lls to filibuster the first African American female nominee to the highest court in the land.
They can get away with it for the federal judiciary, but the level of media intensity would be completely different in a Supreme Court hearing.
You beat me to the punch!
So were all those other judges that were confirmed secularists?
I can't understand why the black community would oppose Justice Brown. She's a hero for their cause. And the black community does what the Dems want. Doesn't make sense.
Precisely. And the Dems are trying to keep the ship of state headed over the falls.
I like her already.
Thanks for the post. The more I learn about Justice Brown, the more I like her. Bring her on!
They didn't have "Choose Life" bumper stickers plastered all over their SUV's? ;-)
She would be of greater and more enduring value sitting on the United States Supreme Court. I hope and pray that's the endgame.
That I thought it was beyond shameful not to stand up for her.
Go Janice! God keep a close eye on this woman, she is making enemies by the truckload.
Let the truth be told! You go Girl!!!!
On Hannity today he said she was re-elected by 75%
That should be reason enough to let the full Senate vote on her nomination, after waiting TWO years.
Judge Brown sounds like a very good person. One that we very much need in our judicial system.
I have to tell you that I almost "hate" to see you one a thread that I get on because after I see your screen name, I can't get the song out of my head the rest of the evening!!!!
LOL---but I like the name and the song!
Religious views properly may be a part of every judge's personal life but they should have no role in the conduct a trial or hearing when that judge puts on the black robe. Impartiality and dispassion are the very core of every judge's oath. This nominee has already indicated that her judicial integrity is jeopardized by her predisposed views.
For those who are inclined to flame with a discourse on the need for her traits in the judiciary, I pose a rhetorical question: How comfortable would you be and how would your respect for the judiciary be enhanced by knowing that your case is being presented to a judge who is inclined to impose on your case her own fervently held moral and religious views that may be contrary to your own for which she has already pubicly expressed disdain? The trust we place in our judges begins with our faith in their fairness and objectivity in every case, not just in those in which they hold no personal doctrine. Of course, the contrary is true.
Well, should I stay or should I go?
You should STAY and rock the casbah, of course! LOL
BTW, I am a hugh Janice Rogers Brown fan---I saw her last year when she went before the judiciary committee and she blew me away with how easily she answered their questions, and she kept her poise when idiots like Kennedy, Leahy asked her stupid questions!
Seems the faith issue has surfaced more than once lately.... this event and Sen. Frist's thing with the church groups.
The Justice Sunday telecast was one of the most powerful things I've seen in some time. Judge Brown building on the momentum, perhaps?
You show where she has been overturned and there will be your proof that one with strong beliefs cannot still be judicially fair.
you're right! imagine if she took the Biblical injunction against murder and theft seriously. Man, she might have convicted some people, based on this extremist religious belief. shudder.
I'd hate to see your phone bill..LOL
Just damn, you go girl.
Our President is a coward at heart. He will only do what is politically expedient at the time and what benefits illegal immigrants. His DNA is upper east coast, elite country club Republican.
For me he has been a tremendous disappointment in his second term.I don't think he has the heart to fight for any nomination.
O.K. Sorry.
I like your thinking!
And Republicans, who I suppose just read the New York Times and Washington Post, will believe that America is seething in anger against the outspoken Christian who dares refuse to check her faith at the door.
This may be an exaggeration, but the Republicans do have tunnel vision.
Because she is a Christian? Your premise is that only atheists can be impartial judges?
Tremendous post.
This may be an exaggeration, but the Republicans do have tunnel vision
I don't know, that's yet to be seen, for me anyway. I was switching channels and caught the tail end of the HBO documentary about Err America. The looks on their faces when Bush won was absolutely priceless. It showed how nasty and intollerant they are too.
Thanks. Capt. and Powerline do fantastic jobs.
Janice Brown had better get confirmed.
The RNC's campaign account depends on it.
1-877-762-8762
I am hanging onto the Republican Party by my fingernails.
Those folks better "Go Constitutional".... NOW.
Is she a Democrat? I hope so.
I see nothing intemperate in her remarks, unless you consider it intemperate to shine the cold light of reality into some murky corners.
It reminds me of a phrase I read somewhere about how "there shall be no religious test" for holding office in the United States. You might have read it too, somewhere but forgot that it applied to Justice Brown, et al.
Thanks! I've been using up my cell minutes! I must have tried Frists' office at least 15 different times today and all I got was a busy signal.
ping
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