Senators, Environmental Groups Respond to Report Finding Pattern of Conservative Judicial Activism

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Senators, Environmental Groups Respond to Report

Finding Pattern of Conservative Judicial Activism

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For Immediate Release

Senators, Environmental Groups Respond to Report

Finding Pattern of Conservative Judicial Activism

WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, Jul. 18 -/E-Wire/-- Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee and the nation's top environmental groups responded to a report documenting a trend of anti-environmental judicial activism on the federal bench by vowing today to push for greater scrutiny of judicial nominees.

The report reviewed 10 years' worth of federal rulings and found that a group of highly ideological conservative judges has disregarded norms of judicial conduct while shaping a new judicial philosophy that threatens core environmental protections. The report, written by the Alliance for Justice, Community Rights Counsel and the Natural Resources Defense Council, was released today at a press conference on Capitol Hill.

Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wisc.), speaking at the press conference, praised the report as a valuable tool for members of the Judiciary Committee:

"As a senator with a deep commitment to environmental protection, I strongly believe that the environmental views of public servants must be fully vetted and evaluated. I also believe that the Senate, in fulfilling its constitutional role of providing advice and consent on nominees, should apply the highest standards and the strictest scrutiny to judges, and certainly to Supreme Court justices, who will serve for life."

Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) responded to the report with a statement: "In recent years, the Supreme Court has issued decisions that undermine some of our country's most important laws, including â¦ environmental legislation enacted by Congress. Whether provisions of the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, or the Age Discrimination in Employment Act, the tendency to undermine federal statutes is clear and worrisome."

In the first coordinated effort by environmental groups to monitor judicial nominees, 12 national organizations also called on the U.S. Senate to consider the views of nominees on issues related to environmental protection. The letter is available on http://www.ems.org.

Speaking at the press conference were: Greg Wetstone, director of advocacy at the Natural Resources Defense Council: "We are talking about the brazen abandonment of the most fundamental precepts of judicial fairness by judges openly biased against environmental protection. That is why, with this event, the environmental community is launching a new effort to carefully scrutinize judicial nominees. It is not too much to ask for assurances that future judges should be willing to commit to the rule of law in the environmental area, to endorse congressionally sanctioned environmental goals and give the environment a fair hearing."

Buck Parker, executive director of Earthjustice: "Never before have the stakes been higher. A growing number of judges are exceeding their proper role by rewriting laws passed by Congress, in order to serve the judges' own personal preferences. A few more judges out of this mold will tip the balance in many courts and seriously weaken, if not nullify, many of our landmark environmental statutes."

Doug Kendall, executive director of Community Rights Counsel: "A handful of judges are willing to express abject hostility to environmental protections. Many more judges, including a slim majority of the justices on the U.S. Supreme Court, are willing to ignore procedural and substantive obstacles in order to strike down environmental protections."

Nan Aron, president of Alliance for Justice: "There is a very significant expansion of groups now mounting efforts across the country around judicial selection. It's highly significant that this community, which has mostly remained neutral in this area, is participating in monitoring federal judges. That is new and highly significant."

To read the report or download complete statements of environmentalists and members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, go to http://www.ems.org.

Environmental Media Services

http://http://ems.org

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