July 23, 2009
To the Members of the United States Senate:
We, the undersigned 156 conservative and constitutional cause leaders, activists and other concerned citizens, respectfully submit a statement in opposition to the confirmation of Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the United States Supreme Court.
Even President Obama's Supreme Court Nominee Rejects
His Views on the Constitution
But Confirmation Conversions Are Not Acceptable for Lifetime Appointments
It is historic, as far as we know, that a nominee to the Supreme Court has gone on record at her confirmation hearing to reject the underlying judicial philosophy of the President who made the nomination.
- President Obama said his judicial nominee would be someone with "empathy" and "who understands that justice isn't about some abstract legal theory or footnote in a casebook.'' "That's the criteria by which I'm going to be selecting my judges," he said.
- Top presidential advisor David Axelrod said in a May 26, 2009 interview that President Obama nominated Judge Sotomayor because "he wanted someone whose philosophy of judging was his," which as applied to the law and constitutional principles was to "be ready to adapt them to a modern context."
- In his opening statement at the Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearings, Sen. Jeff Sessions said, "I will not vote for and no senator should vote for an individual nominated by any president who believes it is acceptable for a judge to allow their personal background, gender, prejudices or sympathies to sway their decision in favor of or against the parties before the court. In my view, such a philosophy is disqualifying."
- In response to questioning from Sen. Jon Kyl about whether she agreed with the president's judicial philosophy, Judge Sotomayor replied, "No, sir, I wouldn't approach the issue of judging the way the president does. Judges can't rely on what's in their heart. They don't determine the law. Congress makes the laws. The job of a judge is to apply the law."
- Some observers noted that judge Sotomayor appeared to have a "confirmation conversion" about following the law, not personal preferences.
Voters will have their chance to render their judgment about President Obama and his views of governing at the polls. If Judge Sotomayor were confirmed for the Supreme Court, however, her appointment would be for life.
We the undersigned believe that Judge Sotomayor did have a confirmation conversion, perhaps based on her realization that the judicial philosophy she shares with President Obama is in fact disqualifying for confirmation to our highest court, or perhaps because that judicial philosophy is unpopular. It is not an objectionable judicial philosophy that judges may check constitutional abuses by the other branches. However, a judicial philosophy that goes beyond the authority granted by Article III of the Constitution should be disqualifying.
Given that an appointment to the Supreme Court is for life, the statements by the President and his advisors, and Judge Sotomayor's pre-confirmation statements that conflicted with her confirmation testimony, we believe her judicial philosophy is indeed one that should disqualify her from appointment to the Supreme Court.
This is a matter of whether the nominee has demonstrated that she will abide by the role of the judiciary consistent with, and as constrained by, the Constitution.
Judge Sotomayor's rulings, whether dealing with the 1st Amendment, 2nd Amendment, private property rights, criminal law, use of foreign law, race, equal protection and other areas of law, demonstrate that if she is consistently "empathetic" at all, it is in favor of government power, even beyond constitutional constraints.
Americans are witnessing how much more ideological President Obama is in office compared to "candidate" Obama. He has shown a disturbing disregard for the constitutional limits on presidential and other government power. While we do not hold Judge Sotomayor responsible for her sponsor's ideology, we do believe the Constitution would be placed in further jeopardy if she were confirmed to a lifetime position on the Supreme Court.
We urge the Senate to reject Judge Sotomayor. Judge Sotomayor should remain a judge on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals where her decisions would be subject to the check of the Supreme Court.
President Obama should nominate another candidate whose views of judicial power are demonstrably consistent with Article III of the Constitution. That means the next nominee's views of the judiciary should be demonstrably inconsistent with the President's, whose views are not consistent with Article III, even before that nominee's confirmation hearings.
Respectfully,
(Organization name for identification purposes only)
Carolee Adams
President, Eagle Forum of New Jersey
Bob Barr
Liberty Guard
David Bergeron
Troup County
Georgia Right to Life
Morton C. Blackwell
Conservative Leadership PAC
L. Brent Bozell
Media Research Center
Floyd Brown
President, Western Center for Journalism
H. William Burgess
President, Aloha for All
Thomas Patrick Burke
The Wynnewood Institute
Kathryn Ciano
Vice President, Federalist Society
James N. Clymer
Constitution Party
Janice Shaw Crouse, Ph.D.
The Beverly LaHaye Institute
Concerned Women for America
Kay R. Daly
Coalition for a Fair Judiciary
David Y. Denholm
Public Service Research Council
Mario Diaz
Concerned Women for America
Elaine Donnelly
President, Center for Military Readiness
Dan Douglass
Interim Hawaii State Coordinator
Campaign for Liberty
Brandon Dutcher
Chairman,
Oklahoma Center-Right Coalition
Fran Eaton
Editor, IllinoisReview.com
former State Pres. Eagle Forum of IL
Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com
Richard W. C. Falknor
Maryland Center-Right Coalition
Mark Fitzgibbons, Esq.
American Target Advertising
Corinne Fuller
His Helping Hand Foundation
Alan M. Gottlieb
Chairman, Citizens Committee for the
Right to Keep and Bear Arms
Diane Gramley
American Family Association of PA
Sandy Greiner
American Future Fund
William F. Harvey
Emeritus Dean & Professor
Indiana University School of Law
--Indianapolis
Robert Heckman
Capital City Partners
Dr. Carl Herbster
President, AdvanceUSA
Dee Hodges
Maryland Taxpayers Association
David James
President, The Liberty Committee
Patti Kanduch
CWFA of Montana
Richard Kimble
Young America's Foundation
Andrea Lafferty
Traditional Values Coalition
Jimmy LaSalvia
GOProud.org
Harry Levine
VictoryNH.com
Steve Lonegan
Recent NJ GOP gubernatorial candidate
Michelle Madd
CWFA of Colorado
Jeffrey Mazzella
President
Center for Individual Freedom
Abraham H. Miller, Ph.D.
Abraham H. Miller Research
Chuck Muth
Citizen Outreach
Phyllis H. Nemeth
CWFA of California
Richard Norman
The Richard Norman Company
Kent Ostrander
The Family Foundation
Kathleen Patten
American Target Advertising
Ron Pearson
Council for America
Howard Phillips
The Conservative Caucus
Don Racheter
Iowa Wednesday Group
Paul A. Rahe
Hillsdale College
Alfred S. Regnery
The American Spectator
Beverly Roberts
CWFA of Texas
Ron Robinson
Young America's Foundation
Dick Rowland
Center-Right Coalition Meetings-Hawaii
Linda D. Schauer
CWFA of South Dakota
Howard Segermark
Coordinator, Committee for
Consumer-Centered Healthcare
Rev. Louis P. Sheldon
Traditional Values Coalition
Marcena Springer
North Texas CWFA
Judy Stemen
American Family Association
Hon. Steve Stockman
Congressman (ret.)
Presidential Trust
Herbert W. Titus
William J. Olson, P.C.
Piero A. Tozzi, Esq.
C-FAM Catholic Family
& Human Rights Institute
Richard A. Viguerie
ConservativeHQ.com
Mark Williamson
Founder & President
Federal Intercessors
Wendy Wright
Concerned Women for America
Craig Zinkoski
Central NJ/Ocean Co. ACT! For America!
Joshua & Kimberly Abbott
Concerned Citizens - Virginia
Jared Bristol
Concerned Citizen – Maine
Henry C. Clark
Concerned Citizen – New York
John Kekes
Concerned Citizen – New York
Robert J. Muckenhirn
Concerned Citizen – Virginia
Tracy Oetting
Concerned Citizen – Washington
Lauren Patten
Concerned Citizen – Texas
Donna Rastorfer
Concerned Citizen
Dr. Marvin & Elisabeth Schoenecke
Concerned Citizens – Missouri
LaNeil Wright Spivy
Concerned Citizen - Texas
Bret Ulibarri
Concerned Citizen – Massachusetts
Mary Helen Warren
Concerned Citizen - Massachusetts |
Gary W. Aldrich
Former senior FBI Special Agent
Bestselling author & Patrick Henry scholar
Michael Bass
Conservatives for Change
Helen Blackwell
Virginia Chairman, Eagle Forum
Kenneth Boehm
National Legal and Policy Center
Bill Brooks
North Carolina Family Policy Council
Mary Beth Brown
Author and Columnist
Sandra Puanani Burgess
Co-Founder & Vice President, Aloha for All
Dr. Paul Cameron
Family Research Institute
Kellyanne Conway, Esq.
The Polling Company, Inc.
WomanTrend
David Crowe
Restore America
Marjorie Dannenfelser
Susan B. Anthony List
Candace de Russy
National Review
Tanya Ditty
CWFA of Georgia
Michael P. Donnelly, Esq.
Adjunct Professor Patrick Henry College
Staff Counsel, HSLDA
Douglas S. Doudney
Coalition For Property Rights
Carol Dufrense
CWFA of Ohio
Michelle Easton
Clare Boothe Luce Policy Institute
Barbara Elliott
Center for Renewal
Joseph Farah
WorldNetDaily
Don Feder
Don Feder Associates
Peter Flaherty
National Legal and Policy Center
Erin Gabel
CWFA of Ohio
Shari Goodman
Calabasas-West Valley ACT Chapter
Paul Gottfried
Raffensperger, Professor of Humanities
Elizabethtown College
William Greene, Ph.D.
President, RightMarch.com
Colin A. Hanna
Let Freedom Ring
Linda Harvey
President, Mission America
Mike Hodge
The Valley American
Deborah Honeycutt, MD
MHealthS, Inc.
Haven Howard
CWFA of Missouri
Phillip L. Jauregui
Judicial Action Group
Gary G. Kreep
United States Justice Foundation
Peter LaBarbera
Americans For Truth About Homosexuality
Tana-Lee
ACT! for America
Curt Levey
Committee for Justice
Micki Lewis
ACT-MIAMI
Tim Macy
Gun Owners of America
Jim Martin
60 Plus Association
Tom McClusky
FRCAction
Manny Miranda
Third Branch
Janne Myrdal
CWFA of North Dakota
C. Preston Noell, III
Tradition, Family, Property, Inc.
William J. Olson
William J. Olson, P.C.
Karl Ottosen
US Federation of Small Businesses
Lowell T. Patterson
Constitution Party
Tony Perkins
Family Research Council
Larry Pratt
Gun Owners of America
Bobbi Radeck
CWFA of Ohio
William Redpath
Chairman, Libertarian National Committee
David A. Ridenour
The Nat. Center for Public Policy Research
Janet Robey
CWFA of Virginia
Allen Roth
Board of ACU
New York State Conservative Party
Austin Ruse
President, Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute
Nancy Schaefer
Eagle Forum of Georgia
Ilya Shapiro
Cato Institute
John M. Snyder
Citizens Committee for the
Right to Keep and Bear Arms
Mathew D. Staver
Liberty Counsel
Liberty University School of Law
James A. Stever
Professor, University of Cincinnati
Matthew Taylor
Private Sector Solution Advocacy
Kerri Houston Toloczko
Institute for Liberty
Kathryn Ulibarri
Massachusetts Citizens For Life
Worcester Youth Coalition For Life
Carrie Walker
Director, CWFA of Michigan
William Wilson
Americans for Limited Government
Tom Winter
Eagle Publishing
Richard Ziser
Nevada Concerned Citizens
Bruce & Robin Bradley
Concerned Citizens – Alabama
Mario A. Calabrese
Concerned Citizen – District of Columbia
Roy D. Kaylor
MSGT USMC (Ret)
Donna Maxey
Concerned Citizen
Len Munsil, Esq.
Concerned Citizen – Arizona
Larry Passage
Concerned Citizen – New Jersey
Elfrieda Peninger
Concerned Citizen – Missouri
Edward Reott
Concerned Citizen - Utah
Ken & Cindi Slaughter
Concerned Citizens
Linda Stillings
Concerned Citizen
Mary Underdahl
Concerned Citizen - Utah |
The following individuals signed the letter after it was sent to Senators:
Frank Gaffney
Center for Security Policy
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Fr Frank Pavone
Priests for Life
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Michael W. Grebe
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Yvonne D. Trotter, Ph.D.
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Mark A. Trotter
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Irma Fiordalisi
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Bob Conley, P.E.
2008 Opponent of Lindsey Graham |
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