Sam Brownback’s obstructionism — redux

October 27, 2006

I recently mentioned that Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.) has decided to block one of the Bush White House’s judicial nominees because she attended a commitment ceremony for a lesbian couple four years ago. The president’s nominee has gone out of her way to satisfy Brownback’s concerns — but he still won’t budge.

If you’re just joining us, Brownback — who, up until quite recently, insisted that every judicial nominee, without exception, deserves an up-or-down vote — learned that Michigan Court of Appeals Judge Janet T. Neff was on hand for a public ceremony in which two lesbians pledged their commitment to one another in Massachusetts. It was not a marriage ceremony and, despite some rumors to the contrary, Judge Neff was in the audience and did not officiate.

Brownback, in one of his less-sane moves, asked the Justice Department to investigate the ceremony (it’s not quite clear why), and suggested that Neff may have engaged in “judicial activism.”

Over the last few weeks, Neff has explained in some detail that she simply attended the perfectly legal event as a friend, and did not give any legal sanction to the gay relationship. Brownback isn’t satisfied.

The nomination of Michigan Court of Appeals Judge Janet T. Neff to be a US District judge is on hold because Senator Sam Brownback, a Kansas Republican, is not satisfied with her response to questions about her views on same-sex marriage, a spokesman for the senator said yesterday.

Bigotry is always ugly and unnecessary, but at a certain point, a person’s hatred becomes ridiculous, especially for those in positions of governmental power.

In an Oct. 12 letter to Brownback, released yesterday by the Senate Judiciary Committee, Neff said a minister presided over the ceremony, and she insisted her attendance would not affect her ability to act fairly as a federal judge.

“The ceremony, which was entirely private, took place in Massachusetts, where I had no authority to act in any official capacity and where, in any event, the ceremony had no legal effect,” Neff wrote. She went on to explain that her family lived next door to one of the women for more than two decades.

It apparently doesn’t matter. As of now, Brownback seems to sincerely believe that being friends with a gay neighbor necessarily disqualifies a person for the federal bench, even if you’re nominated by the Bush White House.

Keeping Judge Neff off the federal bench over such a matter is perilously close to declaring her unfit to serve because she has lesbian friends.

Brownback is engaging an almost McCarthy-like guilt by association. If he were capable of feeling shame, now would be a good time for it.

Honestly, there are gays even in Kansas – I’m fairly certain that Brownback has to have run across one or two in his lifetime…

  • This harkens back to the good old days (to people like the Sinator) of kids saying “My mommy says I can’t play with you any more because you’re [fill in the blank minority].

    Blowback won’t be satisfied until Neff throws gasoline over her friends and sets a match to them. So far as Neff is concerned, she should tell him to go sodomize himself with a rusty saw if she wants to keep her friends. I also wonder if the other committee members made any comment about this arsehole.

    I think it was eeyore who had the idea of making friends with GOP members and then shouting “Guess what?” to scuttle their careers. Who ever gets Blowback should get a bio-hazard suit, the man would make a dead skunk gag.

  • Brownback: “She’s a witch! Burn her!”

    His legislative activism is really a bit much. How can Sam posess so many of the fatal flaws of a legislator: ignorance, bigotry, unreasonableness, lack of jugement, hipocrisy, lack of understanding of the constitution, pandering to a hateful minority of the population …? He is everything that is wrong with repub legislators all wrapped up into one pathetic lump.

  • Wow. I didn’t know it was unethical to know or befriend a gay person. I mean, normally I’d be glad to see a Bush appointee blocked, but this is absurd.

    Next thing you know, Brownback will block judges for affiliating with Democrats or poor people.

  • In a “Land-of-Oz” way of thinking, one should remember that Brownback would rather face the fury of the cyclone, rather than share a shelter with a little girl, a trio of farmhands, and a wee dog named Toto. On the other hand, u[pon arriving in Oz—the Munchkins would, out of necessity, much rather rescue the Witch—and throw Sammie-boy under the farmhouse….

  • Didn’t the Bush daughters attend a same-sex wedding not too long ago? I don’t remember the senator getting in much of a huff about that.

  • If the ceremony was for Cheney’s daugther, I wonder if Sam’s reaction would be different. Hmmmmm

  • So I wonder if he’s tried to have Condi Rice removed for her associating with not only a gay person, but his partner and mother in law.

    Can we assume that he also seems Cheney unfit to serve because of his daughter’s lifestyle? (I forget, are we allowed to bring that up at all?)

  • …I just find it darkly amusing that Gay Republicans exist at all. Something about a phrase that ends with “collaborators” comes to mind. It’s sad that there are some people so in love with power that they sacrifice all of their morals to achieve it. I mean, hell, the Vice President’s daughter is a lesbian. I have to assume that VP Cheney attended her high school and college graduations… Shouldn’t Brownback have been out there fighting against Cheney ever becoming VP?

  • Brownback is not being McCarthy-like. McCarthy had a crazy, but, at least for a while, principled position. Sam Brownback should crawl back to the cave whence he came. If Kansas voters have any brains (always a questionable proposition) they should stone him at the first opportunity (at least, politically). And this guy was supposed to be a viable presidential candidate?

  • OK, playing contrarian here: What is Janet T. Neff’s political and judicial background? Is she a conservative? Moderate?

    She was nominated by George W. Bush — who’s nominated some real doozies like Janice Rogers Brown, Priscilla Owens and William H. Pryor. Given his nominating history, it wouldn’t be too far off to say she’s a right-wing idealogue or at the very least a judicial incompetent, would it? So maybe Brownback is doing the country an inadvertent favor here by blocking Neff’s appointment.

    Don’t get me wrong. Brownback’s hold on this nomination is just assinine. But if it saves the country from yet another right-wing idealogue looking to overturn years of precedent, shouldn’t we take it? I’m looking for some good news since the Democrats have abandoned the filibuster.

  • Neff needs to explain that she only attended the ceremony in order to disrupt it by yelling curses and profanities, in a loving Christian manner, of course.

    That should satisfy him.

  • The section on Brownback in Thomas Frank’s “What’s the Matter with Kansas?” makes him out to be a pandering hypocrite who anticipated the increasing craziness of the Republican party and got out in front of it.
    Sure, he might be drinking his own Kool-aid by now.
    But you have to assume there’s some reason for him to pander to the base on this amazingly stupid non-issue. Which is frankly surprising, considering that Kansas is trending blue-ish.

  • Joe McCarthy was a lying, shameless drunk who never had a compelling moral stance. Neither does the idiot senator from Kansas. The good people of Kansas are smart enough to elect a decent governor, but their credentials for being allowed to govern themselves can be called into question with their decision to send two drooling idiots to the US Senate.

  • Brownback will be the GOP nominee in 2008, if McCain doesn’t get it through illness, after a bruising primary season with Guiliani. (I don’t see McCain being stopped by anything other than illness.)

    The Taliban wing of the GOP needs purer and purer dope^H^H^H candidates to get them off^H^H^H to the polls.

    Brownback’s as far as you can get to the right without achieving escape velocity and arcing off into the Alan Keyes Quadrant, plus he’s a Catholic, which gives him traction with the remaining Reagan Democrats that Romney won’t get.

  • Now, now Max – Rep. Steve King (R-The Nebraska Part of Iowa) tells us that McCarthy was “a hero for America.” (an actual quote.) Have I mentioned he is leading in his re-election campaign?

  • Keeping Judge Neff off the federal bench over such a matter is perilously close to declaring her unfit to serve because she has lesbian friends.

    “Perilously close to”? What am I missing here? Why is this qualifier necessary?

    Do they teach meaningless qualifiers at journalism school?

  • The crazy thing is that Brownback is insisting that she say how she would rule on gay marriage and she is saying she can’t because it may come before the court, but of course only really right wing conservatives are allowed to decline to answer questions on that basis.

    Brainiac, there is a long tortured history involving nominations to the 6th circuit (Clinton nominees being stonewalled, etc.), and I think there was a negotiation that resulted in Neff, a fairly moderate judge, being included in a “package” with 2 more conservative judges, so that’s why Dems and Brownback care about this nomination.

  • Zeitgeist,

    You don’t consider Council Bluffs as part of Nebraska, do you?

    ‘Cause them’s fightin’ words

  • My Magic Eight Ball says Brownback doesn’t resign the Senate when he runs for the Oval, and fails. Kathleen Sebelius then takes his seat in 2010 when her tenure as Governor is over. And Kansas officially turns purple.

  • I guess we can add freedom of association to the rights these people want to do away with. Voting Republican is anti-American and immoral.

  • Brownback’s being a lot more reasonable here than any of you will admit — it’s just that you don’t like his politics or philosophy. The senator evidently shares a belief with a majority of his countrymen that the institution of marriage should be confined to couples made up of opposite genders. He also evidently thinks that attending a gay commitment ceremony may be evidence of a pro-gay marriage philosophy. Now, since we all know that in America laws often get made by judges, why exactly wouldn’t someone of Brownback’s opinions be cautious with such a nominee?

  • Coin-op:
    No, he’s not being reasonable here. In fact, he’s getting more credit than he deserves on this board.

    Your comments might be valid had Neff actually officiated at the event. That would be a perfectly legal activity, but taking that active role may or may not have been an indicator of her personal views. Brownback would still have been a cad for using the event as a political tool, but it would have had the tiniest patina of logic.

    But Brownback is criticizing her attendance at a social function to which she was invited. He’s not just saying that likeminded Americans should avoid performing gay weddings. He’s saying that they should actively snub gay people, even when they are friends and neighbors. He is adamantly pro-bigotry.

  • In a few days, Brownback and pals will have more to worry about than this.

    If the Dems retake the Senate, Bush will have much more trouble getting his horrible judicial nominees through the Senate. Even if they fall short by one or two seats, the Senate will be so closely divided that the radical right nominees will face much more scrutiny than they have to date.

  • Now, since we all know that in America laws often get made by judges….

    Finally, a nutcase conservative wakes up to the full implications of Bush v Gore. Congratulations, Coin-op

  • Mr Bosseigh (#9):
    Not only did Condi officiate at that ceremony, but Laura Bush was also there. Of course, this could give Brownback an issue in his version of what will be the common chorus of the 2008 Presidential Republicans:

    “Bush was a hypocrite who only gave our ideals lip service, elect a REAL Conservative like ME.”

    Of course, this leads to the battle of the Conservatisms, with
    Brownback representing the Taliban wing,
    Frist representing the “What’s good for business is good for me, er, I mean, for America” wing,
    Romney representing the “I didn’t accomplish anything either but at least I can spout your bull… in coherent sentences” wing,
    Gingrich representing the Steve Forbes “Government is baaaad, cut my taxes and you’ll be better off for it” wing,
    McCain representing the “I called Bush a bastard years ago, that makes me an Independent” wing,
    and Giuliani representing the ‘Republicans are human, we have sex too, but don’t cross me or you’ll go to jail” wing.

    Sadly, there are two wings missing candidates. With Allen’s foot-in-mouth disease, there’s no immediate candidate for the “Whaddya mean the Klan, we tie-died our sheets last week” wing. And unless somebody can convince Condi to run, there’s nobody for the “Amerika uber alles” position. (She, like Blackwell and Steele, also fits the “We Republicans aren’t racists, we LOVE black people, the whiter the better” position.)

    It’ll be fun watching.

  • Brownback’s being somewhat reasonable, and you can at least credit him with consistency. After all, Neff could have have said Well, you’re a friend, but I can’t really support your lifestyle choice in this area and so it would be hypocritical of me to attend – or just made up a bogus excuse for the same result. Only 40 or even 30 years ago that would have been a common response. So I can see that fact that she didn’t do that could be seen to indicate that she’s in the mainstream on gay rights, which is not where Brownback is or where he wants judges to be,

  • Would there be any way to find a senator who could put a hold on any candidates who have attended a heterosexual wedding ceremony, too, until Brownback removes his? How about a senator who would hold anyone espousing christian beliefs?

    The only way to show these idiots how ridiculous they are is to hold them to their own standards.

  • The only way to show these idiots how ridiculous they are is to hold them to their own standards.

    It doesn’t work.
    They have no standards.

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