Well, frumps, South Carolina is up to its old tricks and giving the nation a migraine once again. This time it’s the gentleman from South Carolina, Senator Jim DeMint, who has the rest of us in a choke hold and won’t let go. I really can come to no other conclusion than that there is definitely something crazy-making in the water down there.
Yesterday, Talking Points Memo reminded us that way back in October of 2009, the Chief Judge of the D.C. Superior Court sent out an SOS to Senate leadership warning that Sen. DeMint’s hold on President Obama’s nominee for that bench “ . . . would certainly test our ability to administer justice for the people of the District of Columbia in a timely fashion.”
TPM also cites Legal Times as having said that “(Marisa) Demeo’s confirmation has been pending “longer than the wait for any other [Obama] judicial nominee.”
Hmmmmm . . . that’s interesting since, as it turns out, Marisa Demeo is already serving as a Magistrate Judge in the Criminal Division of the D.C. Superior Court since 2007 — seems as if any problems in her demeanor or professionalism would have been flushed out by now. So what is Sen. DeMint’s beef with Marisa Demeo?
I’ll give you a little backgrounder and I bet you’ll be able to figure it out all on your own.
Back in March, 2009, the new President Obama announced two nominees to serve on the DC Superior Court; they were Florence Pan and Marisa Demeo. According to the official White House press release, here are the two women’s’ qualifications:
Marisa Demeo
Marisa Demeo (Far left)
Magistrate Judge Demeo was born in Washington, DC. Following her distinguished work as a paralegal in the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, she was selected for a Root Tilden scholarship at the NYU School of Law.
Throughout her career, Demeo has displayed a commitment to public interest work. She has worked for numerous public interest groups including the AIDS Service Center of Lower Manhattan, the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund and Texas Rural Legal Aid. Following further work at the Department of Justice and at the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, Demeo prosecuted misdemeanor and felony cases as an Assistant United States Attorney in the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia. In 2007, Demeo was appointed as a Magistrate Judge in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia.
Demeo has also served as an adjunct professor at the Howard University School of Law.
Florence Pan
Florence Pan grew up in New Jersey and graduated summa cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania before earning her law degree at Stanford in 1993. She then clerked for Judge Michael Mukasey on the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York and Judge Ralph Winter on the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
Pan was then selected in the prestigious Bristow Fellowships Program for the Office of the Solicitor General at the Department of Justice before working as an attorney in the Criminal Appellate Section of the Department of Justice. In 1998, she worked as a senior adviser to the Undersecretary for Domestic Finance at the Treasury Department. She currently serves as Deputy Chief of the Appellate Section in the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia.
Pan also serves as an adjunct professor of criminal procedure at the Washington College of Law at American University.
I don’t know about you, but I’m impressed . . .
The Long and Winding Road
Evidently the Senate was too, because Florence Pan was fully confirmed in a month and has been adjudicating away for close to a year already. Likewise, Marisa Demeo was pronounced “good to go” by Sen. Joe Lieberman’s Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee in May 2009, but then Sen. DeMint found some “troubling” things in Demeo’s background and put her confirmation on perma-hold – to this day.
So. What were those “troubling” things that forced DeMint’s intervention? Well, here’s what sounds like the crux of it, in his own words, as reported in Legal Times:
“she has a history of very leftist activism. There are just a number of things that don’t look like a fair and balanced approach that you’d like in a judge.”
Perhaps DeMint is concerned about Demeo’s work for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF). From MALDEF’s website, here’s what they say about their mission:
“Founded in 1968, MALDEF is the nation’s leading Latino legal civil rights organization. Often described as the “law firm of the Latino community”, MALDEF promotes social change through advocacy, communications, community education, and litigation in the areas of education, employment, immigrant rights, and political access.”
“MALDEF strives to implement programs that are structured to bring Latinos into the mainstream of American political and socio-economic life; providing better educational opportunities; encouraging participation in all aspects of society; and offering a positive vision for the future. Unique to MALDEF is an approach that combines advocacy, educational outreach, and litigation strategies to achieve socio-economic change.”
“MALDEF has achieved significant legal victories with the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case, Plyler v. Doe. The Court struck down a Texas law that allowed districts to charge tuition to children of undocumented immigrant parents. MALDEF’s victory opened school doors to all students equally. In 2006, the U.S. Supreme Court heard seven challenges to a Texas Congressional redistricting plan. Only MALDEF’s prevailed. The New York Times described it as “the most important voting rights case of the decade . . .”
Definitely “Lefty,” but then, most things are from where DeMint stands all self-righteous and regal in the Right. It’s only fair to look at DeMint’s position on immigration before labeling him a bigot. Here’s what On The Issues has to say:
“On the issue of immigration, DeMint favors requiring all illegal immigrants in the United States to return to their home countries and apply for legal residency. He is also against the Guest Worker program and is in favor of establishing English as the country’s official language.”
Pretty strict, but, certainly, he’s not alone in that. On Civil Rights, in general, he’s pretty consistent:
DeMint scores 7% by the ACLU on civil rights issues
DeMint scores 0% by the HRC (Human Rights Campaign) on gay rights
DeMint scores 7% by the NAACP, indicating an anti-affirmative-action stance.
Of course one must keep in mind that Jim DeMint probably considers all three of those organizations Lefty bastions of bleeding heart Liberalism – so they don’t count. So. American civil rights – not so much. But DeMint makes up for that by personally winging down to Honduras, last Fall, to put his senatorial and Family stamp of approval on the Honduran coup’s new man, Micheletti — as long as he promises to restore civil rights (after suspending them) and counter, of course, to his President’s policy but, then, Jim’s his own man.
But wait just a minute, going to back to that list, something is . . . oh, there it is, the 0% from HRC; that’s DeMint’s score for gay rights. And guess what? – Demeo is openly lesbian. But DeMint didn’t mention anything about that being a problem with her confirmation . . .
Through the Looking Glass
Let’s just step back and take a look at the big picture here. President Obama nominates two minority women to serve on the DC Superior Court.
One is confirmed lickety split; Florence Pan is a sophisticated looking young woman of Asian extraction, withan Ivy League education. Aat one point she served under Michael Mukasey, a 1987 Reagan-appointed judge, as well as serving in the Department of Justice. She has a beautiful traditional wedding to the dashing Max Stiers that is covered by the New York Times. She dresses for success . . .
The other nominee, Marisa Demeo is a Latina lesbian with a law degree from NYU and, as her bio states:
“She has worked for numerous public interest groups including the AIDS Service Center of Lower Manhattan, the Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund and Texas Rural Legal Aid.”
In her spare time she is an adjunct professor of immigration law at Howard University. Not so tasty if you’re a medieval-minded servant of the ultra-conservative. Now I know that it’s risky business to imply that DeMint is holding up Demeo’s confirmation because he’s a raving homophobe, since he already gave his reason: that she’s a raving judicial activist.
But allow me to present Exhibit A, since I’m in this juridical mood today (the nice thing about senators is that they love the camera so we don’t need to fill in too many blanks – on any topic). These are some of Sen. Demint’s thoughts on homosexuals:
- the state of South Carolina should ban openly LGBT teachers from working in public schools
- DeMint has been a tireless crusader for a Federal Constitutional ban on same-sex marriage
- In December, he told Albert Hunt at Bloomberg News, that he thinks homosexuality is “destructive to society“
- Also with Albert Hunt, on the subject of an openly gay president, DeMint physically cringed and stated: “It would be bothersome to me just personally because I consider it immoral.”
So, as they say, the plot thickens . . . But given the evidence and the “cut of the man’s jib,” I’d say that there is a credible possibility that judicial activism in the hands of a Latina (as loathesome as DeMint probably finds that specter) can’t hold a candle to DeMint’s fear and loathing of a Latina lesbian on the bench for the rest of her (and certainly his) life. Unfortunately, Sen. DeMint has caused himself some major political headaches by voicing his homophobic views in too colorful terms (most notably his suggestion to ban gay teachers in the Palmetto State) so it’s just lucky for Jim that Demeo has this civil rights background to call into question providing the perfect cover for him to wimp out on the real issue and do his hating in private.
I guess we could leave it at that but, just to demonstrate what a knee-jerk bigot this guy really is, I’d like to share a beautiful piece of prose from a fellow blogger name of Geoff Berg, over at Partisan Gridlock (which I heartily recommend). I came across his offering this morning and it totally made my day (not to mention my argument):
Here’s something DeMint might keep in mind while he undemocratically prevents the Senate from voting on the President’s nominee:
There is a reason Barack Obama was elected to serve as President of the United States. It is because the majority of Americans trusted him to nominate judges.
There is a reason the American people elected a majority of Democrats to the Senate. They trusted our judgment to vote on judicial nominees.
There is a reason the Republican Party is in the minority in Congress. It is because the American people did not trust them to make these decisions.
I would love to take credit for that kind of epic partisan smackdown, but I can’t. I’m afraid the credit goes to…Senator Jim DeMint, who in 2005 said:
“One of my goals as a Senator is to confirm highly qualified judges by ensuring timely up-or-down votes for all nominees no matter who is President, no matter which party is in the majority. That is my commitment, and I have encouraged Senator Frist to consider all options, including the constitutional option, to end the undemocratic blockade of judicial nominees. Senators were elected to advise and consent, not to grandstand and obstruct.”
“I would like to say something to my colleagues across the aisle. There is a reason George W. Bush was elected to serve as President of the United States. It is because the majority of Americans trusted him to nominate judges.”
“There is a reason the American people elected a majority of Republicans to the Senate. They trusted our judgment to vote on judicial nominees.”
“There is a reason the Democratic Party is in the minority in Congress. It is because the American people did not trust them to make these decisions.”
The fact that Jim DeMint is a sanctimonious religious extremist makes his hypocrisy even more entertaining than it might ordinarily be. What a bunch of suckers South Carolina voters must be.
Amen, Brother . . .
Technorati Tags: Sen. Jim DeMint, President Obama, Florence Pan, Marisa Demeo, MALDEF, Albert Hunt, Bloomberg News, Geoff Berg, Partisan Gridlock, Honduras
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Great post and links!