Harkin: Civil Rights Nominee Has To Be White

[copper]

Harkin: DOJ Civil Rights Nominee Would Have Been Confirmed If He Was White

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/05/tom-harkin-doj-civil-rights-nominee_n_4907866.html

Harkin: DOJ Civil Rights Nominee Would Have Been Confirmed If He Was White
Ryan J. Reilly03/05/14 08:52 PM ET
WASHINGTON -- Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) took to the Senate floor Wednesday night to slam fellow senators for what he called their "shameful" vote to block the nomination of a respected civil rights lawyer to a top Justice Department post.

Harkin, who has a law degree, said the vote against Debo Adegbile shows the Senate measures nominees according to race, and suggested the lawyer would have been confirmed as head of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division if he was white instead of biracial. Adegbile was attacked by senators for heading the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, which represented murderer Mumia Abu-Jamal decades after a death sentence for killing a Philadelphia police officer.

Watch Harkin's full floor speech above.

"We sent a message: We have a double standard. A terrible double standard," Harkin said, pointing out that Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts once worked on behalf of a mass murderer.

"Here's the message we sent today," Harkin said. "You young people listen up. If you are a young white person and you go to work for a law firm … and that law firm assigns you to a pro bono case to defend someone who killed eight people in cold blood … my advice from this, what happened today, is you should do that … Because if you do that, who knows? You might wind up to be the chief justice of the United States Supreme Court.

"However, if you are a young black person and you go to work for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund … and you're asked to sign an appeal for someone convicted of murder, what the message said today is, 'Don't do it! Don't do it.' Because you know what? If you do that, in keeping with your legal obligations and your profession, you will be denied by the U.S. Senate from being an attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice," Harkin said.

"What about that guy sitting over there -- the chief justice of the Supreme Court -- defended a person who killed eight people?" Harkin asked, pointing toward the nearby court building. "Maybe we should institute a -- an impeachment process? Maybe that's what we ought to do. Maybe my friends on the Republican side did not know this about John Roberts, that he had defended a mass murderer. Maybe that's what we've got to do, bring up an impeachment process. Let's impeach the chief justice because he had fulfilled his legal obligation to defend a murderer. Well, I hope that you see the ridiculousness of that argument."

 

[thoughtone]

Harkin: DOJ Civil Rights Nominee Would Have Been Confirmed If He Was White

Harkin: Civil Rights Nominee Has To Be White

Harkin: DOJ Civil Rights Nominee Would Have Been Confirmed If He Was White

 

[copper]

Harkin: Civil Rights Nominee Has To Be White

What's the question?

 

[thoughtone]

What's the question?

If you don't see it, never mind.

 

[QueEx]

White House blasts Senate for
blocking controversial nominee​

​

​

The vote against advancing Debo Adegbile toward confirmation was 47-52,
short of the majority needed under new procedures Democrats put in place
earlier this year to overcome Republican stalling tactics. In this case, all
44 voting Republicans and eight Democrats lined up to block
confirmation, leaving the nomination is grave jeopardy​

McClatchy Washington Bureau
By Lesley Clark
March 5, 2014


The White House ripped the Senate for failing to confirm Debo Adegbile to lead the civil rights division at the Department of Justice, calling it a "travesty based on wildly unfair character attacks against a good and qualified public servant."

Several Senate Democrats joined with Republicans to block Adegbile, who while with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund was an attorney for Mumia Abu-Jamal who was sentenced to death for the murder of a Philadelphia police officer.

In a statement, the White House said Adegbile’s "unwavering dedication to protecting every American’s civil and Constitutional rights under the law – including voting rights – could not be more important right now."

And it noted that Adegbile’s personal story – "rising from adversity to become someone who President Bush’s Solicitor General referred to as one of the nation’s most capable litigators – is a story that proves what America has been and can be for people who work hard and play by the rules.

"As a lawyer, Mr. Adgebile has played by the rules," the White House said. "And now, Washington politics have used the rules against him. The fact that his nomination was defeated solely based on his legal representation of a defendant runs contrary to a fundamental principle of our system of justice – and those who voted against his nomination denied the American people an outstanding public servant."

Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus called the defeat an "embarrassment" for Obama and Democrats "who thought it was a good idea to nominate a convicted cop-killer’s most ardent defender to head a DOJ Department and failed.

"Vulnerable Democrats running in 2014 just voted to confirm a radical nominee whose positions on civil rights, religious liberty, voting rights and the second amendment are far outside the mainstream," Priebus said, noting that eight Democrats voted to confirm.

They were: Sens. Kay Hagan (D-NC), Mary Landrieu (D-LA), Mark Begich (D-AK), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Mark Udall (D-CO), Mark Warner (D-VA), Al Franken (D-MN) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR), the RNC said.​

The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund called for Majority Leader Harry Reid to bring up the nomination again, saying Adegbile had been subjected to an "unfair smear campaign."

Sherrilyn Ifill, the director of the fund, said its involvement in Abu-Jamal's case "reflects its institutional commitment to ensuring that the criminal justice system is administered fairly and in compliance with the U.S. Constitution for all Americans, no matter how controversial."

She noted that "many public servants, including Chief Justice John Roberts, have donated pro bono time to the representation of death-sentenced prisoners in controversial cases."

And she said that a federal appeals court ultimately agreed with the fund and twice ruled twice that the instructions given to Abu-Jamal's sentencing jury were incorrect and violated the Constitution.
​

Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2014/03/05/220220/white-house-blasts-senate-for.html#storylink=cpy

 

[Upgrade Dave]

He's right, at least on how it looks. It's been proven that a White man with a similar record would have been confirmed.

Now, honestly, I doubt a White man picked by Obama would have been confirmed either because this is about hurting the Civil Rights wing of Justice while the GOP is attacking voting rights and access across the country.

 

[QueEx]

he's right, at least on how it looks. it's been proven that a white man with a similar record would have been confirmed.

Now, honestly, I doubt a white man picked by obama would have been confirmed either because this is about hurting the civil rights wing of justice while the gop is attacking voting rights and access across the country.

That.