The most enduring
legacy that any President can leave is in the judges he appoints. However, anyone who voted for this President
with the expectation that he would leave a legacy of progressive judges is in
danger of being sorely disappointed.
President Obama
has the opportunity to appoint two judges to the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals,
and as many as four to the US District Court for the Northern District of
Georgia, with the advice and consent of the Senate. In previous years
Georgia’s Senators have come to our community for input on the candidates being
considered for federal judgeships. But that has not happened with Georgia’s
current Senators under this President. Yet the
President has apparently decided that the only way he can fill any of
these vacancies is to accept a slate of nominees agreed to by Georgia’s
Senators.
What kind of
people are they? To paraphrase Dr. King,
the ultimate measure of a man of woman is not where he stands in times of
comfort and convenience but where she stands in times of challenge and
controversy.
Where did Mark
Cohen stand in times of challenge and controversy - when the State asked him to
defend Georgia’s voter ID law? He could
have said – this law hurts people - this is a law that the State shouldn’t try
to defend - He could have said my conscience won’t let me defend it. Instead he took the case and defended the law
and succeeded in having the law upheld.
Where did Michael
Boggs stand in times of challenge and controversy - when he had the opportunity
as a member of the General Assembly to vote for or against removing the
Confederate battle emblem from the State Flag – the opportunity to make a
statement about whether Georgia’s government was going to represent all of its
citizens or just some of them? He voted to keep the confederate battle emblem
on the state flag.
There are those who
may say that Mark Cohen’s work on the voter ID bill was "just
business" – that he was just representing a client - and the type of
clients that he represents Is not something that should be held against
him. I would ask those people to tell
that to Natasha Perdew Silas - whom the president previously nominated to the
Northern District of Georgia, whom the senators rejected, apparently because of
the types of clients she represented – people who were accused of crimes. Unlike Mark Cohen, Ms. Silas was a public
defender and was not in a position to pick and choose her clients.
There are those
who may say that Michael Boggs was only one of 82 legislators who voted against
changing Georgia’s flag and that, in doing so, he was merely representing the
views of his constituents. I would ask
those people if they are saying that Michael Boggs is someone who makes
decisions on the basis of anything other than what he thinks is right? I would ask them, who were his constituents,
anyway? Actually, they were the citizens
of Waycross, Georgia, in Ware County, in the Southern District of Georgia. Someone who actually lived in the Northern
District of Georgia – someone who actually represented the views of people who
live in the Northern District of Georgia – might have voted differently. This illustrates the importance of having
judges who are representative of the communities that they serve.
There are those
who may say that there are other persons who are part of this deal whom they
like. To them I would say that what is
being proposed is a package deal – that, under this deal, the price for having
any new judges at all is having judges
included in the package who have already shown us where they stand.
The President is
apparently being advised that this deal is worth the price, but I strongly
disagree.
Congressman
Lewis, you may be the only person who has the moral authority to convince the
President that he shouldn’t accept a package that rewards a champion of voter
suppression, having so famously risked your life to enhance voting rights for
all citizens.
In this time of
challenge and controversy, I urge you to do more than simply to protect the
President from criticism by your constituents.
I urge you to use your moral authority to convince the President to
leave a legacy in Georgia of judges of whom we can all be proud. Ask the President to reject this deal and
embrace a more traditional process of judicial selection – a process in which
the voices of your constituents, and the people of the Northern District of
Georgia, are heard.
Charles Johnson | Holland
& Knight
Partner
1201 West Peachtree Street, N.E., One Atlantic Center, Suite 2000 | Atlanta GA 30309
Phone 404.817.8530 | Fax 404.881.0470
charles.johnson@hklaw.com | www.hklaw.com
Partner
1201 West Peachtree Street, N.E., One Atlantic Center, Suite 2000 | Atlanta GA 30309
Phone 404.817.8530 | Fax 404.881.0470
charles.johnson@hklaw.com | www.hklaw.com
