6 March 14 • 2019
jn
T
he U.S. Senate
recently con-
firmed three
right-wing federal
judges in as many
days.
The confirmation of
Allison Rushing to the
U.S. Fourth Circuit
Court of Appeals and
of Eric E. Murphy and Chad Readler,
both to the Sixth Circuit Court of
Appeals, will buttress the drive by
President Donald Trump to bend the
federal judiciary to the hard right.
The Senate’
s eagerness to so speedily
confirm extreme individuals to life-
time appointments demonstrates its
lack of respect for the independence
of the judiciary.
Rather than honoring safeguards
that exist to insulate the third branch
of government from partisanship,
Senate Republican leadership con-
tinues to disregard these time-tested
protections in favor of ideologues
that will do the bidding of President
Trump for decades after he leaves the
White House.
Allison Rushing is a committed
opponent of LGBTQ rights, argu-
ing that Congress intended that the
Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA)
reflect the “moral disapproval of
homosexuality and a moral con-
viction that heterosexuality better
comports with traditional (especially
Judeo-Christian) morality.” She also
argued successfully to reduce work-
ers’
right in a landmark case involving
a contract dispute. Her hearing was
held during a congressional recess,
over the opposition of Democrats
who said the timing prevented a full
airing of her record. A member of the
right-wing Federalist Society, Rushing
is the youngest appeals court nomi-
nee to date, having graduated from
law school just 11 years ago.
As assistant attorney general, Chad
Readler overruled senior members of
the Justice Department in arguing in
Texas v. United States that mandating
coverage for people with pre-exist-
ing conditions was unconstitutional.
Readler is a diehard advocate for
other right-wing causes. He support-
ed the separation of children from
families at the U.S.-Mexico border;
advocated for the Muslim ban;
worked to undermine public educa-
tion; promoted the Trump admin-
istration’
s anti-LGBTQ and anti-re-
productive rights agenda; fought to
allow tobacco companies to advertise
to children, including outside day
care centers; sought to undermine
the independence of the Consumer
Financial Protection Bureau; and
advocated for executing minors.
As the state solicitor of Ohio, Eric
E. Murphy has worked to make it
easier for Ohio to disenfranchise vot-
ers. He has argued against marriage
equality in the landmark Obergefell v.
Hodges case, has attacked reproduc-
tive rights and has repeatedly sided
with special interests over the general
public. His record raises serious con-
cerns that he will undermine critical
rights and legal protections.
For the sake of our courts — and
our constitutional rights — Senators
must insist on fully-vetted, experi-
enced nominees without biases or
partisan agendas. It is truly the least
they can do. ■
Nancy K. Kaufman is the CEO of National
Council of Jewish Women.
commentary
NCJW Opposes Latest Right-Wing
Appeals Court Appointees
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views
Nancy
Kaufman
letters
Beware Otzma Yehudit
I commend the JN for devoting so
much space to information regarding
Otzma Yehudit, the extreme right
party following the racist ideolo-
gy of the late Rabbi Meir Kahane,
which was recently incorporated into
Netanyahu’
s Likkud party in order
for him to be able to form a coalition
(“Israeli Political Turmoil,” March 7,
2019, page 31). People’
s memories are
often short, and there are the young
among us who never heard of Rabbi
Kahane and his Kach Party.
It reminded me of attending a
wedding in 1983 in a Christian Arab-
Israeli village in Upper Galilee, invited
by a family whom my husband and I
met earlier that year in Rome. They
happened to be the family of the vil-
lage mayor who was in a delegation of
Christian Arabs from Israel who came
to meet the pope in commemoration
of the Holy Year. These were people
very loyal to the Israeli government
who gave me the royal welcome. I
remember how I tried to apologize for
the expressions of hatred that ema-
nated from Kahane and his followers.
The damage done by them was incal-
culable and it shouldn’
t be allowed to
repeat itself.
— Rachel Kapen
West Bloomfield