Sharpton sending mixed signals on Judge Brown

By Roland S. Martin, Editor, BlackAmericaToday.com
November 7, 2003

One day after stunning the civil rights establishment with his support of a vote for Bush judicial appointee, Judge Janice Rogers Brown, the Rev. Al Sharpton backed off the announcement, saying she now doesn¹t deserve to be on the federal bench.

In an interview with Sinclair Broadcasting, Sharpton said that he doesn't agree with "her politics" and "some of her background," but that "she should get an up-or-down vote."

Brown, who serves on the California State Supreme Court, is assumed to be on President Bush's list of future Supreme Court nominees. Conservatives are backing her nomination because of her legal opinions on affirmative action and abortion, but she has received the wrath of labor, civil rights and feminist organizations.

He went on to accuse Democrats and African Americans of opposing a view that some say is outside of the mainstream of black America.

'"We've got to stop this monolith in black America because it impedes the freedom of expression for all of us," Newsmax.com, a right-wing conservative website, reported Sharpton as saying in an interview with Sinclair Broadcasting. "I don't think she should be opposed because she doesn't come from assumed club."

But Thursday, Sharpton was signing a different tune after releasing a statement clarifying his position to Brown's appointment to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

"I am strongly opposed to the nomination of Janice Rogers Brown to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals," the statement read. "She is so far removed from the judicial mainstream that she poses a serious threat to the progress we have made in civil rights. This morning, I made phone calls to Senator (Patrick) Leahy, through his chief-of-staff, Luke Albee, and Senators John Edwards, and Charles Schumer, to convey my opposition to the nomination of Justice Brown. I asked the Senators to do everything within their means to prevent her from gaining a lifetime appointment to this important Court, and call upon the full Senate to take the same steps to ensure that she is not confirmed."

Doug Thornell, communications director for the Congressional Black Caucus, said its chairman, Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md., wouldn't respond to Sharpton's comments.

"These candidates are going to be consistently saying and doing things," Thornell told BlackAmericaToday.com. "We would be writing and (Cummings) would be saying stuff all the time. That doesn't move the Caucus where we want to be. These guys are going to do what they want to do. This is presidential politics."