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| For Release July 19, 2010 www.Justice-integrity.org Contact: Andrew Kreig Tel: (202) 638-0070 |
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Louis M. Manzo
Counsel: John D. Lynch Phone: (201) 867-2008 |
Jersey Democrat, Justice Integrity Project
Urge ‘No’ On Kagan, Citing Rights Concerns
Urge ‘No’ On Kagan, Citing Rights Concerns
Washington, DC (July 19, 2010) – The Senate should reject Democrat Elena Kagan’s Supreme Court nomination based on her shabby civil rights record that’s apparent from her Department of Justice work, according to a Democratic former New Jersey legislator and Jersey City mayoral candidate.
Louis M. Manzo, drawing on his experience fighting one of the nation’s most explosive political prosecutions, said the Senate should reject Kagan because of “her indefensible support of restrictions on constitutional freedoms and her failures to defend due process.”
The bipartisan Justice Integrity Project (JIP) today released Manzo’s statement by video to illustrate the project’s objections to Kagan on similar executive power grounds. The civil rights project JIP announced its objections June 28, just before the Supreme Court thwarted Kagan’s effort to block a hearing for former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman. Manzo’s statement and similar constitutional criticisms of Kagan are available before Senate voting at JIP’s unique website.
| Contact: Scott Draughon Ponte Vedra Beach, FL Tel: (904) 285-2521 |
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Contact: Andrew Kreig Washington, DC Tel: (202) 638-0070 |
| radio@MyTechnologyLawyer.com |
Andrew.Kreig@gmail.com | |||
For Release July 2, 2010
Authors Bruce Fein, Dick Russell on Kagan, Gulf Disaster
Washington, DC (July 2, 2010) – DC Update guests yesterday were authors Bruce Fein, right, speaking about the potential loss of important freedoms under a changed Supreme Court and Dick Russell, speaking about the implications of the BP Gulf oil disaster. Russell called it the worst natural disaster in recorded history.
Each guest is the author of an impressive book this year. Their comments were Live! nationwide at noon (ET), and can be heard on archive on My Technology Lawyer Radio with Update’s hosts Andrew Kreig and Scott Draughon at: www.MyTechnologyLawyer.com/update
Fein authored American Empire Before the Fall after a career that included the high-level Reagan administration posts of Justice Department associate deputy attorney general and Federal Communications Commission general counsel. Earlier, he worked in the DOJ’s Office of Legal Counsel during the Nixon Administration, where a key part of the job was working with his colleagues to provide independent advice on the limits of presidential power.
Fein predicted Senate confirmation of DOJ Solicitor General Elena Kagan to fill a Supreme Court vacancy, but criticized the nomination for what he called her “ridiculous” arguments extending presidential power and endangering historic U.S. civil rights.
“Kagan will cast a vote in favor of, rather than against, continued expansion of executive power...and the likelihood of her shifting under a future Republican administration is not great," said. “The executive branch teaches you to think in terms of presidential executive power and inculcates a sneer and scorn of Congress. Never having worked with Congress, it will be very hard [for Kagan] to deepen respect of Congress.”
Next, Russell provided an expert view that the Gulf oil catastrophe is far worse than commonly believed. His seven books have ranged from natural history to the assassination of President Kennedy. His most recent, American Conspiracies, was co-authored with former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura and was a New York Times best-seller this spring. The primary focus of Russell’s magazine writing and personal energies has been the environment. Even before BP’s Gulf oil spill, he has warned about “the crisis impacting the world's fisheries and oceans.”
"It is completely not under control,” Russell said of the clean-up, adding, “We have the busiest hurricane season this summer since Katrina.”
He said the correct description is an oil “volcano,” not a “spill” or “leak.”
“A dead zone is being created in the entire Gulf of Mexico,” he said, regarding health dangers. “The dispersant, Corexit, is a health hazard and will cause tremendous health problems for the clean-up workers and for residents. BP is using Corexit to ‘hide’ the oil spill so the full extent of the massive oil spill can't be seen, despite [BP] being warned against using it."
The hosts began the show with a Washington news commentary. The civil rights group Justice Integrity Project that Kreig leads this week announced its opposition to Kagan’s confirmation, citing executive power grounds. Both the conservative Newsmax and Progressive Democrats of America published the investigative background. Following the Supreme Court’s decision this week to vacate charges against former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman, the Huffington Post published Kreig’s overview of the most controversial federal criminal case of the decade.
About Bruce Fein
Bruce Fein is a constitutional lawyer and international consultant who argues for the appointment of judges and prosecutors who display “statesmanship and nonpartisanship” rather than allegiance to a particular office-holder. His latest book is American Empire Before the Fall, published last month. A graduate of Harvard Law School and former federal law judge clerk, he is a widely published commentator who has worked for the American Enterprise Institute and the Heritage Foundation, both conservative think tanks. He is a principal in a government affairs and public relations firm, The Lichfield Group, in Washington, D.C. and a resident scholar at the Turkish Coalition of America. Also, he co-founded the American Freedom Agenda. Details. www.thelitchfieldgroup.com
About Dick Russell
Dick Russell’s books include this year’s best-selling American Conspiracies: Lies, Lies, and More Dirty Lies That The Government Tells Us and the 2008 best-seller, Don't Start the Revolution Without Me, also co-authored with Jesse Ventura. In 2008, Russell published On the Trail of the JFK Assassins, his second book examining the conspiracy behind the death of President Kennedy. Russell was a consultant on the web-based documentary film, "The Warning, and was featured in a National Geographic documentary on whales. A longtime sports fisherman, Russell spent the better part of three years fighting for stronger regulations to protect the endangered Atlantic striped bass. Bio and contact details. http://www.aeispeakers.com/speakerbio.php?SpeakerID=2167
About Scott Draughon and My Technology Lawyer Radio Show
Scott Draughon, an author and lawyer, is host and producer of the My Technology Lawyer Radio Show, an affiliated of the on-demand legal service MyTechnologyLawyer.com. Details. http://www.mytechnologylawyer.com/
About Andrew Kreig
Andrew Kreig, an attorney, is executive director of the Justice Integrity Project. Earlier, he led the Wireless Communications Association International as CEO from 1996 to 2008. Details. www.justice-integrity.org.
Listener advisory: Mac listeners need “Parallels.”
Additional Bruce Fein Interview Highlights
Bruce Fein on:
Executive power?
Kagan...seemed to relish the opportunity to defend continued expansion of presidential power under the [Obama] Administration."
Prediction?
"Kagan will cast a vote in favor of, rather than against, continued expansion of executive power...and the likelihood of her shifting under a future Republican administration is not great."
Her predecessor?
“John Paul Stevens was the fifth vote against the spread of executive power and the concept that National Security is not a blank check that can be used by the president to justify actions that go outside our system of checks and balances."
Root of her instincts?
"Kagan's entire experience has been in the Solicitor's office defending continued expansion of executive power under the Obama administration...and she has never resisted this continued expansion....It is ridiculous to suggest that she's just following orders.
Confirmation?
"It's a done deal….It's unfortunate our arguments, as discussed, will have very little to do with her confirmation because of the Beltway mindset and need for elected officials to posture before upcoming elections."
Threats?
"Due process is the most important idea ever invented in Western Civilization….and it is critical [for] how we want ourselves to be treated [in a Court of Law]."
JIP Urges 'No' Vote on Kagan
Washington, DC (June 28, 2010) – The Senate should reject Elena Kagan’s Supreme Court nomination because she seeks to expand executive branch authority at the expense of the public’s historic civil rights.
The bipartisan Justice Integrity Project (JIP) today announced its opposition to Kagan, based especially on JIP’s core area of research: She is part of an Obama Department of Justice (DOJ) leadership team that has failed to redress unconstitutional lawbreaking by overzealous prosecutors and greedy judges.
“Our nation faces unprecedented threats, with constitutional issues too often decided by a Supreme Court on a partisan, result-oriented basis,” said JIP Executive Director Andrew Kreig. “We need reform. This nominee’s track record on key civil rights issues does not deserve public trust or confirmation ─ especially given her direct involvement in several notorious cases while representing DOJ as solicitor general.”
Today, for example, the Court reportedly meets to decide whether to concur with her request to deny a hearing for former Alabama Gov. Don Siegelman and former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy.
More generally, JIP criticizes as flawed the Senate confirmation hearing that begins today. The partisan hearings fire up the base of the parties largely on hot-button cultural issues, but duck issues central to the disintegration of constitutional protections. In one of Kagan’s few scholarly works, she also described the process as “vapid and hollow.” But she reversed her view last year as she avoided tough questions during her confirmation to be solicitor general, DOJ’s third-ranking post. She was confirmed with 61 votes.
To foster reform, JIP today launches a special website featuring critics of Kagan, the confirmation process and the largely unaccountable executive branch. With scant oversight, U.S. presidents increasingly lead the way on economic policies, war-making and mandatory health insurance of dubious constitutionality, as well as warrantless electronic surveillance, torture, and prosecutorial immunity from liability.
Looking ahead, the courts must address mass suffering from BP’s Gulf oil volcano, too often minimized as a “spill.”
Constitution & Cover-Up
JIP argues that Kagan’s undue deference to executive authority, particularly after nomination by her friend Barack Obama, violates the warning of Federalist No. 76 explaining the need for a Senate process that avoids cronyism.
Exhibit A is how Kagan rubberstamped DOJ misconduct in the Siegelman case: In 1999, Scrushy contributed at Siegelman’s request to the non-profit Alabama Education Foundation. Siegelman then reappointed Scrushy to a state board. At sentencing in 2007, authorities sent the two away in chains for seven-year terms. But an unprecedented bipartisan coalition of 91 former state attorneys general last year told the Supreme Court that such donations are routine and not a crime.
More generally, an in-depth JIP investigation has confirmed that the two defendants were systematically framed, with a cover-up extending to the current administration. Here’s what JIP’s executive director has reported in articles published over the past 13 months:
Authorities headquartered their all-out attack on Siegelman, Alabama’s leading Democrat, from the secure location of an Air Force base. The prosecution had the effect of helping a European-led consortium in its ongoing effort to win $35 billion in Air Force contracts for a next generation of tanker planes, which would be assembled in an Alabama factory. Meanwhile, fraud in Scrushy’s company unrelated to his criminal conviction enabled lawyers suing HealthSouth and its insurers to feast on a $2.8 billion state court civil fraud judgment against him and HealthSouth during his imprisonment.
As described more fully by JIP reports, the two-party system cannot be relied upon to provide the facts in a typical hearing about such vast sums. The money benefits key figures from both parties and through the justice system. Pro-prosecution rulings by Mark Fuller, chief federal judge in Alabama’s middle district, helped ensure guilty verdicts. Fuller has been enriched on the side by $300 million in federal contracts awarded since 2006 to Air Force contractor Doss Aviation, Inc., a closely held company that the judge controls as its largest shareholder. Doss trains Air Force pilots and refuels Air Force planes globally.
JIP’s new website makes publicly available for the first time all of the nearly 180-pages of documentation filed in federal court in 2003 by Missouri attorney Paul B. Weeks, III, who distributed 50 copies of the evidence to courts, DOJ and Congress while seeking Fuller’s impeachment for another Doss-related scandal. The documentation shows how the judge tried to obtain $330,000 in unmerited payments from Alabama’s pension system for a staffer. But authorities promptly removed the Weeks filing from court files. And Weeks says no government investigator has ever contacted him for follow up on his evidence.
Meanwhile, DOJ has retained the Bush team prosecuting the case led by Middle District U.S. Attorney Leura Canary, and fought for years Freedom of Information Act litigation to force revelation of whether Canary actually recused herself from the case in 2002, as she claimed, because her husband William was campaign manager that year for Siegelman's Republican opponent for governor.
“Kagan promised during 2009 confirmation hearings she would quit if she ever had to take a position she didn’t believe in,” Kreig said. “She’s reneging, or else using her legal skills to win friends by helping DOJ keep a lid on its internal scandals. She looks like a technocrat, at best, if not part of the cover-up.”
JIP noted that DOJ and the elite private bar are reluctant to criticize judges, even when the stakes are high for the lay public. Thus, judges can often set their own rules regarding recusal. This is particularly so at the Supreme Court, where scrutiny is minimal on the most sensitive issues despite vast analysis of formal opinions by the media and law professors.
Even with so much coverage, few in the general public know, for example, that three of the five Supreme Court justices who stopped the 2000 presidential vote recount to enable the Bush presidency were arguably conflicted. That’s because they had close family members who were helping the Bush transition or who would obtain posts in the new administration. Prudent news organizations tend to avoid this kind of coverage, given the extensive federal regulation of the media and their parent companies. Perhaps coincidentally, the Federal Communications Commission from 2001 until now has always included at least one member of the Bush Florida recount team.
Does Confirmation End Oversight?
Thus, most oversight ends with a confirmation. Justice Antonin Scalia, one of those three Republicans who in essence picked Bush as president, famously told a CBS correspondent asking about his decision, “Get over it!” Similarly, Scalia said, “Get a life!” to a critic of his vote to keep secret the vice presidential records of his hunting partner, Dick Cheney, about White House meetings with energy company CEOs.
Public suspicions of biased, result-oriented decisions occur with Democrats also, of course, with scant protections even in the lower courts. JIP took the lead this year in showing that Democratic U.S. District Judge Stephen Robinson of New York bullied Republican Bernard Kerik into an unwarranted guilty plea last fall on false statement and tax charges.
The former New York police commissioner’s federal ordeal began in 2007 when his mentor, Rudy Giuliani, was a leading GOP presidential contender. Newsmax and Geraldo Rivera of Fox News At Large reported early on about the unfairness. More legal revelations are expected soon in a Vanity Fair article by its investigative reporter John Connolly. In the meantime, Kerik is serving a four-year term. And Robinson just resigned from the bench to join a law firm where the average partner makes $2.1 million a year.
“Kagan’s Harvard, Obama and Clinton credentials would probably lead to easy confirmation during normal times,” Kreig concluded, "with her longtime advisory services for Goldman Sachs simply another feather in her cap."
“But many people are now scared, or angry at Washington and at crony capitalists alike," he said. "People want ─ and deserve ─ a reliable advocate on the Court for our basic freedoms.”
About Andrew Kreig and the Justice Integrity Project
Andrew Kreig, an attorney, is executive director of the Justice Integrity Project. Earlier, he led the Wireless Communications Association International as CEO from 1996 to 2008. Details.