Editorials
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A Political Travesty
S
enator Spencer Abraham's stonewalling
of Michigan Court of Appeals Judge
Helene White's nomination to a federal
appellate judgeship is an example of -
politics at its worst.
Abraham's treatment of White, politically
speaking, is a travesty of justice, especially since
the post she would fill has been open since
1995.
White's is one of 85 of President Bill Clin-
ton's nominations, 65 at the federal level, twist-
ing in the political wind blowing on Capitol
Hill.
Abraham is Michigan's junior senator and a
Republican Party torchbearer who, in this
instance, has proven he can't rise above partisan
politics to keep a key federal court working at
peak capacity.
A Detroit resident, "White has served as a state
appellate judge since 1993. Her credentials and
reputation are impeccable; even Abraham con-
cedes that. Still, her bid for a lifetime seat on the
U.S. Court of Appeals/Sixth Circuit lingers; her
appointment would be the first for a Jew in
more than 40 years. The Cincinnati-based cir-
cuit serves four states, including Michigan.
The problem is that even though Abraham
finally blue-carded White's nomination, which
Michigan's Democratic Senator Carl Levin did
long ago, he didn't include a recommenda-
tion. The blue card should have paved the
way for a hearing before the Republican-con-
trolled Senate Judiciary Committee, of which
Abraham is a member, but his lack of a rec-
ommendation effectively short-circuited it.
No Republican is going to perch on a biparti-
IN FOCUS
san limb if White's own senator won't.
Abraham should explain why he doesn't sup-
port the nomination, and be strong enough to
bear the political fallout, or give his okay so a
committee hearing can be held and a Senate
confirmation vote taken.
Abraham reportedly is upset over the lack of
cooperation by the Clinton administration in
floating the nomination — and is holding
White a political hostage.
We can appreciate a good political battle. But
using a judicial seat as a political pawn for 3 1/2
years? How fair is that from a senator elected to
represent our nation's best interests.
Let's be clear: We don't think antisemitism is
imbedded in Abraham's actions. His record
includes ecumenical service.
But we're aghast that Abraham would leave
the White nomination in limbo, indefinitely,
in hopes that a Republican becomes president
and takes control of federal court appoint-
ments.
The Sixth Circuit, one level below the U.S.
Supreme Court, serves Michigan and three other
states with 16 judges, but a quarter of the seats
are vacant. White's pending seat has been empty
so long, the Judicial Conference of the United
States has declared it a judicial emergency.
Michiganians should be incensed that one of
their senators won't stand up and be counted on
Judge White's nomination, or won't at least
bring it to a hearing.
Since he's up for re-election himself this year,
we think Senator Abraham would want to show-
case his statesmanship rather than his political
pettiness.
❑
Memory Bound
Committee member Susie Citrin, chairwoman Terran Leemis
and committee member Sandy Danto display a page from
the Book of Life at a signing event on May 25. More than
100 endowment fund donors and 50-year contributors to the
Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit's Annual Cam-
paign have shared their family memories in the Book of Life.
The book, created by the Jewish Federation and its
banking/real estate arm, the United Jewish Foundation, rec-
ognizes those who have generously supported the community
over the years. Each inscribed page includes an individual's or
family's thoughts that will become part of the community's
archive.
Stay Cool
T
he Mideast suddenly seems a more
intractable place than it was a month ago.
A week ago, a majority of the members
of the Israeli parliament, Knesset, voted in
effect to put their jobs at risk in early elections, with
the largest number of votes coming from the Barak
coalition's supposed partner, Shas. Then last Satur-
day came word of the death of Hafez al-Assad,
Syria's 30-year tyrant, long considered the key player
for any meaningful peace agreement with the states
on Israel's north.
Those events followed the hasty IDF withdrawal
that ended an 18-year occupation of a nine-mile-wide
strip of south Lebanon, a Palestinian protest of surpris-
ing violence and leaks suggesting that the Jordan Valley
settlements and maybe even parts of Jerusalem itself
might be turned over to Yasser Arafat's Palestinian
state-to-be. It is as if the players, the rules and the game
itself suddenly had been overturned.
The question of American Jews is what they
Related story: page 20
should make of the upheaval. Our answer, for now,
is to stay cool and think long-range. It may seem
dangerously volatile now, but the fundamentals that
will lead to a more secure, stronger Israel have not
changed any more than has the need of the Arab
neighbors to stabilize their faltering societies by
writing an enforceable plan with the only economy
that could mean anything to them — Israel. And
that means that Americans, Jewish or not, ought to
continue to work patiently to coax those parties into
substantive talks.
That is not to say that there are no problems.
American Jews, Zionist or not, have every reason to
think that Shas should be ashamed of itself. When it
agreed to be a coalition partner, it agreed to abide by
certain rules of political behavior that include keeping
your word. In putting the short-term financing for its
troubled school system ahead of the national need to
give the prime minister the support he needs to be an
effective negotiator, Shas declared that it does not
understand or honor democratic principles. We hope
that, should elections be called soon, Israeli voters will
loudly and effectively demonstrate to Shas that its
behavior is not acceptable.
That Assad's death means shelving the Israeli
strategy of trying to get Assad and Arafat in a bid-
ding war for peace terms is regrettable. And the
nation probably will have to accept the temporary
pain of Hezbollah's trash talking about the outcome
in south Lebanon.
So we will have to wait a bit for the temporary
instabilities to dampen down before we can expect
Israel to be able to talk effectively with the Palestinians.
In the meantime, however, we should remember that
we on this side of the world cannot impose peace
terms on the Mideast; the states themselves must
accept conditions that they see are in their best interest.
Our best bet — expressed through our overseas
giving and our political and service agencies — is to
remain supportive of those programs that make
Israel militarily and financially more secure and that
encourage a true democratic pluralism. Israel will be
better knowing that we still love it and that we do
not despair.
❑
6/16
2000
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