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Congressman
Elijah E. Cummings |
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Congressman
Elijah E. Cummings |
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(05/05/01 Baltimore AFRO-American Newspaper)
by Congressman Elijah E. Cummings
Last Tuesday was "Law Day," the day each year when Americans reaffirm the freedoms that our legal system is duty-bound to protect. Law Day is always an important event for me, but this year’s observation was especially significant.
I joined Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe and other Democratic leaders throughout America in once again asserting the need for stronger voting rights protections. We spoke to the nation from the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court, announcing the creation of the Democratic Party’s new Voting Rights Institute – a permanent force for election reform.
Where civil rights and election laws have been shown to be inadequate (or have been weakened by hostile courts), the Institute will help us strengthen those protections.
As I listened to the other speakers last Tuesday, I thought about how all of our other freedoms depend upon our right and power to vote. Our electoral system failed last year, and the Supreme Court gave George W. Bush control of the White House. Now, the struggle for control of our entire federal court system is beginning.
President Clinton tried to give us judges who would be living testaments to the spirit of Law Day, but Senate Republicans thwarted him whenever they could. President Bush and those same Senate Republicans will now attempt to pack the nation’s federal courts with right-wing ideologues.
The President has already withdrawn the remaining Clinton nominees from Senate consideration. Breaking with bipartisan tradition, he has also refused to submit his own judicial appointments to the American Bar Association for nonpolitical review of their qualifications.
Having laid the groundwork for his judicial control strategy, President Bush will submit twenty or more judicial nominations for Senate consideration this month. Some will be for crucial positions on the U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals (the courts just below the Supreme Court).
The President may propose a few moderate women and other minorities as a negotiating tactic. However, most of his proposed judges will be in the hard-core conservative mode of the current Supreme Court majority.
The outcome of the upcoming Senate debates over the Bush judges will determine the protection that our freedoms receive for a generation. Federal judges – appointed for life – control the doors to justice for all of us.
For example, last year, a slim 5-4 Supreme Court majority led by Justices Scalia and Thomas severely limited the Justice Department’s ability to protect minority voting strength under the federal Voting Rights Act. Unless a plan for redistricting makes African American under-representation worse, they declared, discriminatory intent to suppress our voting rights is of no legal consequence.
Justices Thomas and Scalia are President George W. Bush’s model judges. Why would we expect the upcoming Bush nominees to be more protective of our rights?
The relationship between voting and control of our system of justice is not lost on the Bush conservatives. It must not be lost on us either.
From hard past experience, we know that denial of our voting rights inevitably leads to loss of other freedoms as well. If the Bush forces succeed in their judicial control strategy, we can expect expanded attacks on anti-discrimination laws designed to protect Americans of color.
As the great abolitionist, Wendell Phillips, once proclaimed to the Massachusetts Anti-Slavery Society, "Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty."
A President who lost the national popular vote last year has no mandate to dictate control of our federal judiciary for a generation. Americans who love liberty must rely upon progressive members of the Senate to stand up for justice and resist the Bush court-packing scheme.
Meanwhile, we Democrats will challenge Republicans on their indifference and resistance to election reform. With the help of initiatives like the Voting Rights Institute, we will hold hearings across America, demand legislation that will strengthen voting rights and support increased federal funding for a more accurate voting system.
Now is the time for all fair-minded Americans to mobilize, work together on voter registration drives and demand election reform. Black, white, brown and yellow alike, we all have a stake in this struggle.
"Give us the ballot,"
Dr. King declared, "and we will place judges on the benches of the south who will do justly and love mercy."-The Honorable Elijah E. Cummings represents the 7th Congressional District of Maryland in the United States House of Representatives.
