Fox News calls out AFJ

Last night, Brett Baier of Fox News criticized Alliance for Justice president Nan Aron for hypocrisy, suggesting that her recent piece in Politico conveniently forgot her own role in defeating the nomination of Robert Bork and the filibusters of then-President Bush's most extreme judicial nominees.

Baier's analysis misrepresents vastly different political actions and states of the federal bench. We at Alliance for Justice are justifiably proud of our advocacy on behalf of blocking George W. Bush's most extreme nominees. We authored reports detailing the record of each nominee and Robert Bork, whose nomination was so extreme that 58 Senators voted against his confirmation.

The nominees filibustered during the Bush administration were outside the mainstream and had records detailing their extreme beliefs. In sharp contrast, those nominees who today see their prospects dwindle in the Senate are qualified nominees with bipartisan support who will adhere to the constitutional values entrusted to courts promising equal justice for all. Alliance for Justice is proud to have opposed nominees with extremist ideas, and will continue to fight against obstructionism in favor of qualified jurists.

Today's nominees deserve swift action on the Senate floor. Judge Greenaway was nominated on June 19th and has been waiting for 231 days, Justice Keenan was nominated on September 14th and has been waiting for 144 days, and Judge Chin was nominated on October 6th and has been waiting for 122 days. All three of these circuit court nominees have lingered on the Senate calendar for months, despite being reported out of committee unanimously. Given the broad support for these qualified jurists and the tremendous backlog of work in our federal courts, this is an unconscionable delay.

For thirty years, the community has relied on Alliance for Justice for thorough research and analysis regarding judicial nominations, and we plan to continue this important work.