Patrick Leahy: “the opposition to Justice Brown for a lifetime position on the D.C. Circuit is deep and wide and is based on her record…”

“the opposition to Justice Brown for a lifetime position on the D.C. Circuit is deep and wide and is based on her record, both on and off the bench. As anyone who was watching C-SPAN last night and the night before would know, the Republicans are using the judicial nomination process in a manner that divides rather than unites. As the San Francisco Chronicle wrote, ``Presidents typically shape the judiciary to reflect their own views. But with Charles Pickering, Priscilla Owens, William Pryor, Miguel Estrada and now Brown, Bush seems bent on stacking the bench with ideologues.'' For this particular nominee, Janice Rogers Brown, the White House political operatives and ideologically driven selection staff reached out 3,000 miles to find a nominee who has repeatedly received negative ratings, who has been criticized by her Republican colleagues on the bench, and who has emerged from the Senate Judiciary Committee on a party-line vote. As Justice Brown's home State newspaper, the San Francisco Chronicle, wrote: ``naming Janice Rogers Brown to the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, President Bush has again chosen a contrarian with a judicial philosophy that lies well outside the bounds of the mainstream.''”