Subscribe to Common Dreams News Updates
Progressive Community
The press releases posted here have been submitted by
America's Progressive Community
For further information or to comment on this press release, please contact the organization directly.
Most Popular This Week
Today's Top News
|
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
CONTACT: National Lawyers Guild (NLG) Paige Cram, Communications Coordinator, communications@nlg.org, 212-679-5100, ext. 15 |
National Lawyers Guild Calls for Value Shift in Supreme Court Nomination
NEW YORK - April 12 - With President Obama poised to select his second Supreme Court nominee, the National Lawyers Guild (NLG) advocates for a return to justices worthy of the title-ones who will put the interests of the downtrodden above those of transnational corporations, who will not compromise on the rights of women to reproductive justice, who will stand for true racial justice rather than the "blind justice" that preserves the status quo of white privilege, and who will protect the people against a government that cloaks itself in secrecy and invades the most private aspects of their lives.
In replacing Justice John Paul Stevens, whomever President Obama nominates will be reviled by many as a radical, socialist, activist judge. Stevens, a conscientious and principled jurist, has been labeled "left" only because, as he himself asserts, the Court has, over the last two generations, moved so far to the right. In that time, due in significant part to a number of Supreme Court decisions, economic inequality has increased dramatically. Most recently, the Court expanded the rights of corporations, which have no attributes of living, breathing, sentient beings, the right to freedom of speech. In addition, school integration - and thus the opportunity for poor African-Americans and other people of color to attend better schools - has come to a grinding halt. And the Chamber of Commerce's priorities dominate the decisions of the Supreme Court and routinely deprive workers of their rights.
The NLG will not be satisfied with the nomination of a centrist, mainstream justice who will do little or nothing to reverse the routine elevation of corporate interests over individual rights. For example, potential nominees such as Elena Kagan, who calls for indefinite detention of terrorist suspects without trial and defines terrorism to include protected speech, are unacceptable.
President Obama will not nominate the kind of justice the times call for without a unified demand from the people. NLG President David Gespass said, "The right-wing demagogues cannot go unchallenged in defining the debate. There will be at least one voice saying a centrist is not good enough and that a moderate is no liberal. Our views will prevail because we speak for the interests of the people of the United States and the world.
4 Comments so far
Show All"president Obama will not nominate the kind of justice times
call for without a unified demand from the people."
We are screwed...
Most are still giving this teflon poster boy a pass on
anything he does. and
even if their were a unified demand from the people,
poster boy will give his usual Bush like smirk and do just
what Wall Street wants him to do.
The Constitution has been described as a living and breathing document. (i.e. )as people became more "enlightened" the social mores changed and so did attitudes. Because of this, the Constitution has grown to include more " Of, By and For the People," citizens
However, our recent history has shown that somehow the Tory party has been reborn, and we have digressed back even farther than the Middle ages. The Magna Carta is not undone yet....but....
The "them against us" mentality has taken strong root, and America, once respected in the world, seems to be fighting wars of every kind "To Make the World Safe for Democracy," while denying this very democracy to the world and to its own citizens.
There needs to be a balance to this current court where personhood has value, and America stands not just for its citizens, but as a model for what the rest of the world could be. However, as hegemony creeps ever closer, the law must stand for ALL of us, or it doesn't stand at all.
The Polyphemous Court members need to view the world with BOTH eyes and not just one. The Constitution as Cyclops is just not workable.
WARRANT LESS SURVEILLANCE + BILLIONS OF DOLLARS IN PRIVATE CONTRACTS TO THOSE WHO CONDUCT THE SURVEILLANCE + IMMUNITY
=
NO REDRESS OF GRIEVANCES !!!!!!!!! NO LAWSUITS FOR DAMAGES OF BEING FALSELY ACCUSED.
NO CHECKS AND BALANCES TO STOP EGO MANIACAL POWER AND TORTURE FREAKS FROM TEARING LIVES TO BITS.
NO CONTROLS TO STOP ABUSE. WHO IS GOING TO BE LEFT TO PROTECT THE CONSTITUTION.IF NOT OUR COURTS AND OUR LEGAL SYSTEM, THEN LAW ENFORCEMENT, WHO WILL PROTECT THE CONSTITUTION.
WELCOME TO THE UNITED STAZI OF AMERICA !!!!!!
NOT
THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA !!!!!!!!!
50 PERCENT OF THE COUNTRY IS TRAINING TO SPY ON THE OTHER 50 PERCENT.
FOOLS , EVERY LAST ONE US, WE WILL ALL BE ON ONE LIST OR ANOTHER,,,
KISS FREEDOM GOODBYE.HELLO CONTROL, CORPORATE CONTRACT FASCISM , AND BIG BROTHER.
THATS NOT MY AMERICA, IS IT YOURS. DONT VOTE FOR ANY POLITICIANS THAT WILL NOT SUPPORT THE REPEAL OF IMMUNITY, AND WARRANT LESS SURVEILLANCE.
BORNFREEMEN
WARRANT LESS SURVEILLANCE VICTIM OF COMMUNITY WATCH ,RIGHT WING CHRISTIAN VIGILANTE GANG STALKING, 24/7 , 3 YEARS AND RUNNING , BRADENTON FLORIDA.
IF YOU VALUE YOUR FREEDOMS, DONT MOVE HERE, OR EVEN VISIT, THESE FREAKS ARE CHOMPING AT THE BIT TO TEAR UP LIVES IN THE NAME OF RIGHTEOUSNESS.
THEY CAST THE FIRST STONES DOWN HERE, THEY HAVE PILES OF THEM. AND PLENTY OF BRAIN DEAD PEOPLE WHO WILL THROW THEM AT THE MASTERS REQUEST.
If Obama nominates someone who will simply fall in line behind Roberts, we must all abandon Obama!!!!!