Janice Rogers Brown
Encyclopedia
Janice Rogers Brown is a federal judge
on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
. She previously was an Associate Justice of the California
Supreme Court
, holding that post from May 2, 1996 until her appointment to the D.C. Circuit.
President
George W. Bush
nominated her to her current position in 2003. However, her nomination was stalled in the U.S. Senate
for almost two years because of Democratic
opposition. She began serving as a federal appellate court judge on June 8, 2005.
, Brown is an Alabama sharecropper's
daughter who attended segregated
majority African American
schools as a child. Her family refused to enter places of business that segregated blacks. She earned her B.A.
from California State University, Sacramento
in 1974 and her Juris Doctor
(J.D.) degree from the UCLA School of Law
in 1977. She worked her own way through law school while being a single mother. In addition, she received an LL.M.
degree from the University of Virginia School of Law
in 2004.
Brown has said that when she was young, she was so liberal
in her politics that she was almost Maoist, although she is now conservative.
's Office. She was Deputy Secretary and General Counsel for California's Business, Transportation, and Housing Authority from 1987 to 1989 (and a University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law
Adjunct Professor from 1988 to 1989).
She briefly entered private practice as an Associate of Nielsen, Merksamer, Parrinello, Mueller & Naylor from 1990 to January 1991, when she returned to government as Legal Affairs Secretary for Governor
Pete Wilson
from January 1991 to November 1994. The job included diverse duties, ranging from analysis of administration policy, court decisions, and pending legislation to advice on clemency and extradition
questions. The Legal Affairs Office monitored all significant state litigation and had general responsibility for supervising departmental counsel and acting as legal liaison between the Governor's office and executive departments. In November 1994, Wilson appointed Brown to the California Court of Appeal
, Third Appellate District.
appointed Brown as Associate Justice to the California Supreme Court. Prior to the appointment, she had been rated "not qualified" by the State Bar of California
's Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation, which evaluates nominees to the California courts. She was the first person with that rating to be appointed. The basis of that negative rating, according to the Commission, was her lack of judicial experience. Brown had then been sitting as a Justice on the Third District Court of Appeal of California (an intermediate appellate court below the California Supreme Court) for less than two years. Brown was praised in the JNE Commission evaluation for her intelligence and accomplishments, however.
While on the California Supreme Court, in Hi-Voltage Wire-Works, Inc. v. City of San Jose, Brown wrote the majority opinion overturning a program of racial set-asides adopted by the city of San Jose, California
. The opinion upheld an amendment to the California Constitution
which banned "discriminat[ing] against or grant[ing] preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting." In another case, Brown dissented from an opinion striking down a parental consent law for abortion
s. Brown also wrote the majority opinion in Varian v. Delfino
, an important First Amendment
case.
She was the lone justice to contend that a provision in the California Constitution requires drug offenders be given treatment
instead of jail time. In 2000, she authored the opinion in Kasler v. Lockyer, upholding the right of the State of California to ban semi-automatic firearm
s, and of the Attorney General of California to add to the list of prohibited weapons. Her opinion in that case clearly explained that the decision was not an endorsement of the policy, but rather recognition of the power of the state.
Her libertarian
political beliefs have been expressed in her speeches, most notable one she delivered to the Federalist Society
at University of Chicago Law School
in 2000. Brown's speech mentioned Ayn Rand
and lamented the triumph of "the collectivist
impulse", in which capitalism
receives "contemptuous tolerance but only for its capacity to feed the insatiable maw of socialism
." She argued that "where government moves in, community retreats, civil society disintegrates, and our ability to control our own destiny atrophies," and suggests that the ultimate result for the United States has been a "debased, debauched culture which finds moral depravity entertaining and virtue contemptible".
Her remarks gained particular attention, however, for her thesis that the 1937 court decisions upholding minimum-wage laws
and New Deal
programs marked "the triumph of our own socialist revolution", the culmination of "a particularly skewed view of human nature" that could be "traced from the Enlightenment
, through the Terror
, to Marx
and Engels
, to the Revolutions of 1917
and 1937
." She called instead for a return to Lochnerism
, the pre-1937 view that the Constitution
severely limits federal and state power to enact economic regulations. In an exegesis of Brown's speech that was largely responsible for bringing it to public attention during Brown's confirmation process in 2005, legal-affairs analyst Stuart Taylor Jr. noted, "Almost all modern constitutional scholars have rejected Lochnerism as 'the quintessence of judicial usurpation of power'", citing in particular "leading conservatives — including Justice Antonin Scalia
, Sen. Orrin Hatch
, R-Utah
, and former Attorney General Edwin Meese
, as well as [Robert] Bork
".
Brown was nominated by President George W. Bush to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
on July 25, 2003, to fill a seat vacated by retired Judge Stephen F. Williams
. The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on her nomination on October 22 of that same year. After her name had passed out of committee and had been sent to the full Senate, there was a failed cloture
vote on her nomination on November 14, 2003. Brown's nomination was returned to the President under the standing rules of the Senate when the 108th United States Congress
adjourned.
Bush renominated Brown on February 14, 2005, early in the first session of the 109th United States Congress
. On April 21, 2005, the Senate Judiciary Committee again endorsed Brown and referred her name to the full Senate once more. On May 23, Senator John McCain
announced an agreement between seven Republican and seven Democratic U.S. Senators, the Gang of 14
, to ensure an up-or-down vote on Brown and several other stalled Bush nominees, including Priscilla Owen
and William H. Pryor, Jr.
.
On June 8, Brown was confirmed as a judge on the D.C. Circuit by a vote of 56-43. She received her commission on June 10. Brown was the second judge nominated to the D.C. Circuit by Bush and confirmed by the Senate. She began hearing federal cases on September 8, 2005.
Liberal organizations including the NAACP, the Feminist Majority Foundation
, People For the American Way
, the National Council of Jewish Women
, and the National Organization for Women
called her views "extreme right-wing," reflecting political and ideological differences.
Her dissenting opinion in Omar v. Harvey is notable as it pertains to her judicial outlook on the constitutional balance of powers. The United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upheld an injunction that forbade the U.S. military to transfer Omar, a suspected insurgent, out of U.S. custody while his habeas corpus
suit was pending. Brown's dissent took the view that the majority was trespassing on the Executive Branch's authority:
During the summer of 2005, she was considered a candidate to replace Sandra Day O'Connor
as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, but Samuel Alito
was chosen instead.
In the same speech, she gave hints of her philosophical foundations. She described private property
as "the guardian of every other right". Later in her speech she described collectivism
as "slavery to the tribe" and that government was a "leviathan [that] will continue to lumber along, picking up ballast and momentum, crushing everything in its path".
United States federal judge
In the United States, the title of federal judge usually means a judge appointed by the President of the United States and confirmed by the United States Senate in accordance with Article II of the United States Constitution....
on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit known informally as the D.C. Circuit, is the federal appellate court for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Appeals from the D.C. Circuit, as with all the U.S. Courts of Appeals, are heard on a...
. She previously was an Associate Justice of the California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
Supreme Court
Supreme Court of California
The Supreme Court of California is the highest state court in California. It is headquartered in San Francisco and regularly holds sessions in Los Angeles and Sacramento. Its decisions are binding on all other California state courts.-Composition:...
, holding that post from May 2, 1996 until her appointment to the D.C. Circuit.
President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
nominated her to her current position in 2003. However, her nomination was stalled in the U.S. Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
for almost two years because of Democratic
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
opposition. She began serving as a federal appellate court judge on June 8, 2005.
Family and education
Born in Greenville, AlabamaGreenville, Alabama
Greenville is a city in Butler County, Alabama, United States. At the 2000 census, the population was 7,228. The city is the county seat of Butler County and is known as the Camellia City. The movement to change the Official Alabama State Flower from the goldenrod to the camellia originated in...
, Brown is an Alabama sharecropper's
Sharecropping
Sharecropping is a system of agriculture in which a landowner allows a tenant to use the land in return for a share of the crop produced on the land . This should not be confused with a crop fixed rent contract, in which a landowner allows a tenant to use the land in return for a fixed amount of...
daughter who attended segregated
Racial segregation
Racial segregation is the separation of humans into racial groups in daily life. It may apply to activities such as eating in a restaurant, drinking from a water fountain, using a public toilet, attending school, going to the movies, or in the rental or purchase of a home...
majority African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
schools as a child. Her family refused to enter places of business that segregated blacks. She earned her B.A.
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
from California State University, Sacramento
California State University, Sacramento
California State University, Sacramento, popularly known as Sacramento State, is a public university located in the city of Sacramento, California. It is part of the California State University system...
in 1974 and her Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor is a professional doctorate and first professional graduate degree in law.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century and was created as a modern version of the old European doctor of law degree Juris Doctor (see etymology and...
(J.D.) degree from the UCLA School of Law
UCLA School of Law
The UCLA School of Law is the law school of the University of California, Los Angeles. It has been approved by the American Bar Association since 1950. It joined the Association of American Law Schools in 1952.- History :...
in 1977. She worked her own way through law school while being a single mother. In addition, she received an LL.M.
Master of Laws
The Master of Laws is an advanced academic degree, pursued by those holding a professional law degree, and is commonly abbreviated LL.M. from its Latin name, Legum Magister. The University of Oxford names its taught masters of laws B.C.L...
degree from the University of Virginia School of Law
University of Virginia School of Law
The University of Virginia School of Law was founded in Charlottesville in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson as one of the original subjects taught at his "academical village," the University of Virginia. The law school maintains an enrollment of approximately 1,100 students in its initial degree program...
in 2004.
Brown has said that when she was young, she was so liberal
Liberalism in the United States
Liberalism in the United States is a broad political philosophy centered on the unalienable rights of the individual. The fundamental liberal ideals of freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion for all belief systems, and the separation of church and state, right to due process...
in her politics that she was almost Maoist, although she is now conservative.
Early law career
For most of the first two decades of her career, Brown worked for government agencies. She was Deputy Legislative Counsel for the Office of Legislative Counsel in California from 1977 to 1979. She then spent eight years as Deputy Attorney General for the Criminal and Civil Divisions of the California Attorney GeneralCalifornia Attorney General
The California Attorney General is the State Attorney General of California. The officer's duty is to ensure that "the laws of the state are uniformly and adequately enforced" The Attorney General carries out the responsibilities of the office through the California Department of Justice.The...
's Office. She was Deputy Secretary and General Counsel for California's Business, Transportation, and Housing Authority from 1987 to 1989 (and a University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law
McGeorge School of Law
University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law is a private, ABA approved law school in the Oak Park neighborhood of the city of Sacramento, California. It is part of the University of the Pacific....
Adjunct Professor from 1988 to 1989).
She briefly entered private practice as an Associate of Nielsen, Merksamer, Parrinello, Mueller & Naylor from 1990 to January 1991, when she returned to government as Legal Affairs Secretary for Governor
Governor of California
The Governor of California is the chief executive of the California state government, whose responsibilities include making annual State of the State addresses to the California State Legislature, submitting the budget, and ensuring that state laws are enforced...
Pete Wilson
Pete Wilson
Peter Barton "Pete" Wilson is an American politician from California. Wilson, a Republican, served as the 36th Governor of California , the culmination of more than three decades in the public arena that included eight years as a United States Senator , eleven years as Mayor of San Diego and...
from January 1991 to November 1994. The job included diverse duties, ranging from analysis of administration policy, court decisions, and pending legislation to advice on clemency and extradition
Extradition
Extradition is the official process whereby one nation or state surrenders a suspected or convicted criminal to another nation or state. Between nation states, extradition is regulated by treaties...
questions. The Legal Affairs Office monitored all significant state litigation and had general responsibility for supervising departmental counsel and acting as legal liaison between the Governor's office and executive departments. In November 1994, Wilson appointed Brown to the California Court of Appeal
California Court of Appeal
The California Courts of Appeal are the state intermediate appellate courts in the U.S. state of California. The state is geographically divided into six appellate districts...
, Third Appellate District.
California Supreme Court Associate Justice
In May 1997, Governor Pete WilsonPete Wilson
Peter Barton "Pete" Wilson is an American politician from California. Wilson, a Republican, served as the 36th Governor of California , the culmination of more than three decades in the public arena that included eight years as a United States Senator , eleven years as Mayor of San Diego and...
appointed Brown as Associate Justice to the California Supreme Court. Prior to the appointment, she had been rated "not qualified" by the State Bar of California
State Bar of California
The State Bar of California is California's official bar association. It is responsible for managing the admission of lawyers to the practice of law, investigating complaints of professional misconduct, and prescribing appropriate discipline...
's Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation, which evaluates nominees to the California courts. She was the first person with that rating to be appointed. The basis of that negative rating, according to the Commission, was her lack of judicial experience. Brown had then been sitting as a Justice on the Third District Court of Appeal of California (an intermediate appellate court below the California Supreme Court) for less than two years. Brown was praised in the JNE Commission evaluation for her intelligence and accomplishments, however.
While on the California Supreme Court, in Hi-Voltage Wire-Works, Inc. v. City of San Jose, Brown wrote the majority opinion overturning a program of racial set-asides adopted by the city of San Jose, California
San Jose, California
San Jose is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay...
. The opinion upheld an amendment to the California Constitution
California Constitution
The document that establishes and describes the duties, powers, structure and function of the government of the U.S. state of California. The original constitution, adopted in November 1849 in advance of California attaining U.S. statehood in 1850, was superseded by the current constitution, which...
which banned "discriminat[ing] against or grant[ing] preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting." In another case, Brown dissented from an opinion striking down a parental consent law for abortion
Abortion
Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...
s. Brown also wrote the majority opinion in Varian v. Delfino
Varian v. Delfino
Varian Medical Systems, Inc. v. Delfino 35 Cal.4th 180 is a California Supreme Court opinion by then-Associate Justice Janice R. Brown interpreting the state's SLAPP statute...
, an important First Amendment
First Amendment to the United States Constitution
The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. The amendment prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering...
case.
She was the lone justice to contend that a provision in the California Constitution requires drug offenders be given treatment
Drug rehabilitation
Drug rehabilitation is a term for the processes of medical or psychotherapeutic treatment, for dependency on psychoactive substances such as alcohol, prescription drugs, and so-called street drugs such as cocaine, heroin or amphetamines...
instead of jail time. In 2000, she authored the opinion in Kasler v. Lockyer, upholding the right of the State of California to ban semi-automatic firearm
Semi-automatic firearm
A semi-automatic, or self-loading firearm is a weapon which performs all steps necessary to prepare the weapon to fire again after firing—assuming cartridges remain in the weapon's feed device or magazine...
s, and of the Attorney General of California to add to the list of prohibited weapons. Her opinion in that case clearly explained that the decision was not an endorsement of the policy, but rather recognition of the power of the state.
Her libertarian
Libertarianism
Libertarianism, in the strictest sense, is the political philosophy that holds individual liberty as the basic moral principle of society. In the broadest sense, it is any political philosophy which approximates this view...
political beliefs have been expressed in her speeches, most notable one she delivered to the Federalist Society
Federalist Society
The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies, most frequently called simply the Federalist Society, is an organization of conservatives seeking reform of the current American legal system in accordance with a textualist and/or originalist interpretation of the U.S. Constitution...
at University of Chicago Law School
University of Chicago Law School
The University of Chicago Law School was founded in 1902 as the graduate school of law at the University of Chicago and is among the most prestigious and selective law schools in the world. The U.S. News & World Report currently ranks it fifth among U.S...
in 2000. Brown's speech mentioned Ayn Rand
Ayn Rand
Ayn Rand was a Russian-American novelist, philosopher, playwright, and screenwriter. She is known for her two best-selling novels The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged and for developing a philosophical system she called Objectivism....
and lamented the triumph of "the collectivist
Collectivism
Collectivism is any philosophic, political, economic, mystical or social outlook that emphasizes the interdependence of every human in some collective group and the priority of group goals over individual goals. Collectivists usually focus on community, society, or nation...
impulse", in which capitalism
Capitalism
Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...
receives "contemptuous tolerance but only for its capacity to feed the insatiable maw of socialism
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
." She argued that "where government moves in, community retreats, civil society disintegrates, and our ability to control our own destiny atrophies," and suggests that the ultimate result for the United States has been a "debased, debauched culture which finds moral depravity entertaining and virtue contemptible".
Her remarks gained particular attention, however, for her thesis that the 1937 court decisions upholding minimum-wage laws
West Coast Hotel Co. v. Parrish
West Coast Hotel Co. v. Parrish, , was a decision by the United States Supreme Court upholding the constitutionality of minimum wage legislation enacted by the State of Washington, overturning an earlier decision in Adkins v. Children's Hospital,...
and New Deal
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of economic programs implemented in the United States between 1933 and 1936. They were passed by the U.S. Congress during the first term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The programs were Roosevelt's responses to the Great Depression, and focused on what historians call...
programs marked "the triumph of our own socialist revolution", the culmination of "a particularly skewed view of human nature" that could be "traced from the Enlightenment
Age of Enlightenment
The Age of Enlightenment was an elite cultural movement of intellectuals in 18th century Europe that sought to mobilize the power of reason in order to reform society and advance knowledge. It promoted intellectual interchange and opposed intolerance and abuses in church and state...
, through the Terror
Reign of Terror
The Reign of Terror , also known simply as The Terror , was a period of violence that occurred after the onset of the French Revolution, incited by conflict between rival political factions, the Girondins and the Jacobins, and marked by mass executions of "enemies of...
, to Marx
Karl Marx
Karl Heinrich Marx was a German philosopher, economist, sociologist, historian, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. His ideas played a significant role in the development of social science and the socialist political movement...
and Engels
Friedrich Engels
Friedrich Engels was a German industrialist, social scientist, author, political theorist, philosopher, and father of Marxist theory, alongside Karl Marx. In 1845 he published The Condition of the Working Class in England, based on personal observations and research...
, to the Revolutions of 1917
October Revolution
The October Revolution , also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution , Red October, the October Uprising or the Bolshevik Revolution, was a political revolution and a part of the Russian Revolution of 1917...
and 1937
The switch in time that saved nine
“The switch in time that saved nine” is the name given to what was perceived as the sudden jurisprudential shift by Associate Justice Owen J. Roberts of the U.S. Supreme Court in West Coast Hotel Co. v. Parrish...
." She called instead for a return to Lochnerism
Lochner era
The Lochner era is a period in American legal history in which the Supreme Court of the United States tended to strike down laws held to be infringing on economic liberty or private contract rights, and takes its name from a 1905 case, Lochner v. New York. The beginning of the period is usually...
, the pre-1937 view that the Constitution
United States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It is the framework for the organization of the United States government and for the relationship of the federal government with the states, citizens, and all people within the United States.The first three...
severely limits federal and state power to enact economic regulations. In an exegesis of Brown's speech that was largely responsible for bringing it to public attention during Brown's confirmation process in 2005, legal-affairs analyst Stuart Taylor Jr. noted, "Almost all modern constitutional scholars have rejected Lochnerism as 'the quintessence of judicial usurpation of power'", citing in particular "leading conservatives — including Justice Antonin Scalia
Antonin Scalia
Antonin Gregory Scalia is an American jurist who serves as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. As the longest-serving justice on the Court, Scalia is the Senior Associate Justice...
, Sen. Orrin Hatch
Orrin Hatch
Orrin Grant Hatch is the senior United States Senator for Utah and is a member of the Republican Party. Hatch served as the chairman or ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee from 1993 to 2005...
, R-Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
, and former Attorney General Edwin Meese
Edwin Meese
Edwin "Ed" Meese, III is an attorney, law professor, and author who served in official capacities within the Ronald Reagan Gubernatorial Administration , the Reagan Presidential Transition Team , and the Reagan White House , eventually rising to hold the position of the 75th Attorney General of...
, as well as [Robert] Bork
Robert Bork
Robert Heron Bork is an American legal scholar who has advocated the judicial philosophy of originalism. Bork formerly served as Solicitor General, Acting Attorney General, and judge for the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit...
".
United States Court of Appeals Judge
United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit known informally as the D.C. Circuit, is the federal appellate court for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. Appeals from the D.C. Circuit, as with all the U.S. Courts of Appeals, are heard on a...
on July 25, 2003, to fill a seat vacated by retired Judge Stephen F. Williams
Stephen F. Williams
Stephen Fain Williams is a Senior Circuit Judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. He was appointed to the court in June 1986 by President Ronald Reagan, and took senior status in September 2001....
. The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on her nomination on October 22 of that same year. After her name had passed out of committee and had been sent to the full Senate, there was a failed cloture
Cloture
In parliamentary procedure, cloture is a motion or process aimed at bringing debate to a quick end. It is also called closure or, informally, a guillotine. The cloture procedure originated in the French National Assembly, from which the name is taken. Clôture is French for "ending" or "conclusion"...
vote on her nomination on November 14, 2003. Brown's nomination was returned to the President under the standing rules of the Senate when the 108th United States Congress
108th United States Congress
The One Hundred Eighth United States Congress was the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives from January 3, 2003 to January 3, 2005, during the third and fourth years of George W. Bush's...
adjourned.
Bush renominated Brown on February 14, 2005, early in the first session of the 109th United States Congress
109th United States Congress
The One Hundred Ninth United States Congress was the legislative branch of the United States, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives, from January 3, 2005 to January 3, 2007, during the fifth and sixth years of George W. Bush's presidency. House members...
. On April 21, 2005, the Senate Judiciary Committee again endorsed Brown and referred her name to the full Senate once more. On May 23, Senator John McCain
John McCain
John Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....
announced an agreement between seven Republican and seven Democratic U.S. Senators, the Gang of 14
Gang of 14
The Gang of 14 was a term coined to describe the bipartisan group of Senators in the 109th United States Congress who successfully negotiated a compromise in the spring of 2005 to avoid the deployment of the so-called nuclear option over an organized use of the filibuster by Senate...
, to ensure an up-or-down vote on Brown and several other stalled Bush nominees, including Priscilla Owen
Priscilla Owen
Priscilla Richman Owen is a federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. She was previously a Justice on the Texas Supreme Court.-Early life:...
and William H. Pryor, Jr.
William H. Pryor, Jr.
William Holcombe "Bill" Pryor, Jr. is a federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit. Previously, he was the Attorney General of the State of Alabama from 1997 to 2004.-Background:...
.
On June 8, Brown was confirmed as a judge on the D.C. Circuit by a vote of 56-43. She received her commission on June 10. Brown was the second judge nominated to the D.C. Circuit by Bush and confirmed by the Senate. She began hearing federal cases on September 8, 2005.
Liberal organizations including the NAACP, the Feminist Majority Foundation
Feminist Majority Foundation
The Feminist Majority Foundation is a non-profit organization in the United States dedicated to Women's Equality, Reproductive Health and Non-Violence, headquartered in Arlington County, Virginia. The name Feminist Majority comes from a 1986 Newsweek/Gallup public opinion poll in which 56 percent...
, People For the American Way
People For the American Way
People For the American Way is a progressive advocacy group in the United States. Under U.S. tax code, People For the American Way is organized as a tax-exempt 501 non-profit organization.-Purpose:...
, the National Council of Jewish Women
National Council of Jewish Women
The National Council of Jewish Women defines itself as a grassroots organization of volunteers and advocates who turn progressive ideals into action...
, and the National Organization for Women
National Organization for Women
The National Organization for Women is the largest feminist organization in the United States. It was founded in 1966 and has a membership of 500,000 contributing members. The organization consists of 550 chapters in all 50 U.S...
called her views "extreme right-wing," reflecting political and ideological differences.
Her dissenting opinion in Omar v. Harvey is notable as it pertains to her judicial outlook on the constitutional balance of powers. The United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upheld an injunction that forbade the U.S. military to transfer Omar, a suspected insurgent, out of U.S. custody while his habeas corpus
Habeas corpus
is a writ, or legal action, through which a prisoner can be released from unlawful detention. The remedy can be sought by the prisoner or by another person coming to his aid. Habeas corpus originated in the English legal system, but it is now available in many nations...
suit was pending. Brown's dissent took the view that the majority was trespassing on the Executive Branch's authority:
During the summer of 2005, she was considered a candidate to replace Sandra Day O'Connor
Sandra Day O'Connor
Sandra Day O'Connor is an American jurist who was the first female member of the Supreme Court of the United States. She served as an Associate Justice from 1981 until her retirement from the Court in 2006. O'Connor was appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1981...
as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, but Samuel Alito
Samuel Alito
Samuel Anthony Alito, Jr. is an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. He was nominated by President George W. Bush and has served on the court since January 31, 2006....
was chosen instead.
Political views
In a speech to the Federalist Society, Brown called the group a "rare bastion (nay beacon) of conservative and libertarian thought" and that the "latter notion made your invitation well-nigh irresistible"In the same speech, she gave hints of her philosophical foundations. She described private property
Private property
Private property is the right of persons and firms to obtain, own, control, employ, dispose of, and bequeath land, capital, and other forms of property. Private property is distinguishable from public property, which refers to assets owned by a state, community or government rather than by...
as "the guardian of every other right". Later in her speech she described collectivism
Collectivism
Collectivism is any philosophic, political, economic, mystical or social outlook that emphasizes the interdependence of every human in some collective group and the priority of group goals over individual goals. Collectivists usually focus on community, society, or nation...
as "slavery to the tribe" and that government was a "leviathan [that] will continue to lumber along, picking up ballast and momentum, crushing everything in its path".
See also
- George W. Bush judicial appointment controversiesGeorge W. Bush judicial appointment controversiesDuring President George W. Bush's two term tenure in office, he nominated thirty-nine people for twenty-seven different federal appellate judgeships that were blocked by the Senate Democrats either directly in the Senate Judiciary Committee or on the full Senate floor using a filibuster....
- George W. Bush Supreme Court candidates
- Cloture
- Filibuster
- Gang of 14Gang of 14The Gang of 14 was a term coined to describe the bipartisan group of Senators in the 109th United States Congress who successfully negotiated a compromise in the spring of 2005 to avoid the deployment of the so-called nuclear option over an organized use of the filibuster by Senate...
- Nuclear optionNuclear optionIn U.S. politics, the "nuclear option" allows the United States Senate to reinterpret a procedural rule by invoking the argument that the Constitution requires that the will of the majority be effective on specific Senate duties and procedures...
External links and references
- U.S. Court of Appeals Resume of Judge Janice Rogers Brown
- Video of Judge Brown's Investiture
- U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Legal Policy, Resume of Janice Rogers Brown
- Stuart Taylor Jr. (May 3, 2005). Does the President agree with this nominee? The Atlantic Online.
- Professor Orin Kerr on Janice Rogers Brown's libertarian tendencies
- Short Biography by 'Save Our Courts'
- More on Brown from 'Save Our Courts'
- Senator Harry Reid's Statement Against Brown's Nomination
- Senator Barack Obama's Statement Against Brown's Nomination
- "The Bizarre Legal Philosophy of Justice Janice Rogers Brown"