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PRESS RELEASE FROM AMERICANS FOR TAX REFORM
Contact: John Kartch ( jkartch@atr.org or 202-785-0266)

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8/18/05

Supreme Court Fact of the Day
Pre-Judging the Judge

WASHINGTON — The extreme Left has decided on an obstructionist policy of dividing the American people in opposing President Bush’s Supreme Court nominee. As reported in August 10th edition of The Hill they seek to target issues which will inflame the grassroots of the Left, thus making it difficult for Democratic Senators to give Judge Robert’s a fair and impartial hearing.
As with past nominees, the Left accuses Roberts of being weak on “voting rights, civil rights, and privacy rights,” and the list goes on and on. These are the same accusations lobbed against numerous Republican nominees in the past – it seems apparent that the Left made up the list of accusations years ago and then just fills in the name of the Republican nominee.

According to the August 18th Washington Post, the extreme Left’s special interest groups accused Democratic Senators of “showing too little stomach for opposing” Judge Roberts. In the fashion of the tail wagging the dog, the day after the extreme Left accused Democratic Senators of being too weak, Senators Leahy (D-VT) and Kennedy (D-MA) “unleashed their sharpest criticisms yet of Roberts”. These two Senators are following lock-step behind the extreme Left’s pre-judgment of Judge Roberts before the confirmation hearings even begin.

Meanwhile, bickering between the extreme Left in the Senate and the Left’s fringe special interest groups continue to mount. One side is blaming the other side of “not having the back-bone” to oppose the President’s nominee, each accusing the other of “not doing more to build public opposition and create the political climate in which it would be easier to speak out against Roberts without looking extreme.” Nan Aron, president of the leftist interest group Alliance for Justice, threatened Democratic Senators with election problems if they vote for Judge Roberts, saying that the Left’s grass-roots activists will “remember long and hard” their decision.
Pre-judging Republican nominees has been a habit of the Left and their ideological litmus tests pre-empts any sense of fairness or decency in the confirmation process.

Americans for Tax Reform has called on the Senate to meet its constitutional obligations and ensure a speedy confirmation process with an up or down vote on all judicial nominees.

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Americans for Tax Reform is a non-partisan coalition of taxpayers and taxpayer groups who oppose any and all federal and state tax increases.  For more information, or to arrange an interview with Mr. Norquist please contact John Kartch at (202)785-0266 or by email at jkartch@atr.org.