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The Honorable Janice Rogers Brown

Janice Rogers Brown (born May 11, 1949 in Greenville, Alabama) is a federal judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. She previously was an Associate Justice of the California Supreme Court, holding that post from May 2, 1996 until her appointment to the D.C. Circuit. She is noted for her Right Wing politics and passionate writing style ^{[citation needed]}. Image File history File links Unbalanced_scales. ... Image File history File links Janice_Rogers_Brown. ... Image File history File links Janice_Rogers_Brown. ... May 11 is the 131st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (132nd in leap years). ... 1949 (MCMXLIX) was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1949 calendar). ... Greenville is a city located in Butler County, Alabama. ... A federal judge is a judge appointed in accordance with Article III of the United States Constitution. ... The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, known informally as the D.C. Circuit, is the federal appellate court for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. ... This article is becoming very long. ... Justices of the Supreme Court of California (circa May 2005). ... May 2 is the 122nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (123rd in leap years). ... 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... In politics, right-wing, the political right, or simply the right, are terms which refer, with no particular precision, to the segment of the political spectrum in opposition to left-wing politics. ...

President George W. Bush nominated her to her current position in 2003. However, her nomination was stalled in the U.S. Senate for almost two years due to Democratic opposition. She began serving as a federal appellate court judge on June 8, 2005. She has been frequently mentioned as a possible Bush nominee to the United States Supreme Court. ^{[citation needed]} The presidential seal was used by President Hayes in 1880 and last modified in 1959 by adding the 50th star for Hawaii. ... George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American businessman and politician, was elected in 2000 as the 43rd President of the United States of America, re-elected in 2004, and is currently serving his second term in that office. ... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Seal of the U.S. Senate The United States Senate is one of the two chambers of the Congress of the United States, the other being the House of Representatives. ... June 8 is the 159th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (160th in leap years), with 206 days remaining. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... John Roberts is sworn in as Chief Justice by Associate Justice John Paul Stevens in the East Room of the White House on the same day as his confirmation, September 29, 2005. ... The Supreme Court Building, Washington, D.C. The Supreme Court Building, Washington, D.C., (large image) The Supreme Court of the United States, located in Washington, D.C., is the highest court (see supreme court) in the United States; that is, it has ultimate judicial authority within the United States...

Family and education

Judge Brown is an Alabama sharecropper's daughter who attended segregated majority African American schools as a child. She earned her B.A. from California State University, Sacramento in 1974 and her Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree from the UCLA School of Law in 1977. In addition, she received a LL.M. degree from the University of Virginia School of Law in 2004. Sharecropping is a system of sharefarming in which farmers work a parcel of land which they do not own in return for a portion of the parcels crop production and/or a wage. ... The Rex Theatre for Colored People, Leland, Mississippi, June 1937 This entry is related to, but not included in the Political ideologies series or one of its sub-series. ... An African American (also Afro-American, Black American, or simply black) is a member of an ethnic group in the United States whose ancestors, usually in predominant part, were indigenous to Africa. ... A Bachelor of Arts (B.A. or A.B., from the Latin Artium Baccalaureus) is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for a course or program in the arts and/or sciences. ... California State University, Sacramento, also known as Sacramento State, or Sac State, is a public university located in the city of Sacramento, California. ... 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday. ... Juris Doctor (J.D.) is a first degree in law offered by universities in a number of countries, most notably the United States. ... J.D. redirects here; for alternate uses, see J.D. (disambiguation) J.D. is an abbreviation for the Latin Juris Doctor, also called a Doctor of Law or Doctorate of Jurisprudence, and is the law degree typically awarded by an accredited U.S. law school after successfully completing three years... The Hugh and Hazel Darling Law Library, UCLA School of Law The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), School of Law is the law school of the University of California, Los Angeles. ... For the album by Ash, see 1977 (album). ... The Master of Laws is an advanced law degree that allows someone to specialize in a particular area of law. ... The University of Virginia School of Law was founded in Charlottesville in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson as one of the original subjects taught at his academical village, the University of Virginia. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Early law career

For most of the first two decades of her career, Brown worked for government agencies. She was Deputy Legislative Counsel for the Office of Legislative Counsel in California from 1977 to 1979. She then spent eight years as Deputy Attorney General for the Criminal and Civil Divisions of the California Attorney General's Office. She was Deputy Secretary and General Counsel for California's Business, Transportation, and Housing Authority from 1987 to 1989 (and a University of the Pacific McGeorge School of Law Adjunct Professor from 1988 to 1989). In most common law jurisdictions, the Attorney General is the main legal adviser to the government, and in some jurisdictions may in addition have executive responsibility for law enforcement or responsibility for public prosecutions. ... 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The University of the Pacific (Pacific, or UOP) is a private northern California university originally chartered on July 10, 1851 in Santa Clara, California, under the name California Wesleyan College by the California Supreme Court. ... University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law is a private law school in the city of Sacramento, State of California, commonly known as Pacific McGeorge. Originally founded in 1924, the school merged with and became part of the University of the Pacific in 1966. ... 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

She briefly entered private practice as an Associate of Nielsen, Merksamer, Parrinello, Mueller & Naylor from 1990 to January 1991, when she returned to government as Legal Affairs Secretary for Governor Pete Wilson from January 1991 to November 1994. The job included diverse duties, ranging from analysis of administration policy, court decisions, and pending legislation to advice on clemency and extradition questions. The Legal Affairs Office monitored all significant state litigation and had general responsibility for supervising departmental counsel and acting as legal liaison between the Governor's office and executive departments. [1] In November of 1994, Wilson appointed Brown to the California Court of Appeal, Third Appellate District. This article is about the year. ... 1991 (MCMXCI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A governor is a governing official, usually the executive (at least nominally, to different degrees also politically and administratively) of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the Head of state; furthermore the title applies to officials with a similar mandate as representatives of a chartered company which has... Peter Barton Wilson (born August 23, 1933) is an American Republican politician from California. ... 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated as the International Year of the Family and the International Year of the Sport and the Olympic Ideal by United Nations. ... A pardon is the forgiveness of a crime and the penalty associated with it. ... Extradition is a formal process by which a criminal suspect held by one government is handed over to another government for trial or, if the suspect has already been tried and found guilty, to serve his or her sentence. ... Court of Appeals is the title of certain appellate courts in various jurisdictions. ...

California Supreme Court Associate Justice

In May of 1996, Governor Pete Wilson appointed Brown as Associate Justice to the California Supreme Court. Prior to the appointment, she had been rated "not qualified" by the State Bar of California's Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation, which evaluates nominees to the California courts. She was the first person to be appointed after receiving that rating. The basis of that negative rating, according to the Commission, was her lack of judicial experience. ^{[citation needed]} Brown had then been sitting as a Justice on the Third District Court of Appeal of California (an intermediate appellate court below the California Supreme Court) for less than two years. Brown was praised in the JNE Commission evaluation for her intelligence and accomplishments, however. ^{[citation needed]} The Supreme Court of California is the state supreme court in California. ... The State Bars main office in San Francisco is housed on several floors of this office building The State Bar of California is Californias official bar association. ... Court of Appeals is the title of certain appellate courts in various jurisdictions. ...

While on the California Supreme Court, in Hi-Voltage Wire-Works, Inc. v. City of San Jose, Brown wrote the majority opinion overturning a program of racial set-asides adopted by the city of San Jose under the guise of community outreach. The opinion upheld an amendment to the California Constitution which banned "discriminat[ing] against or grant[ing] preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the operation of public employment, public education, or public contracting." In another case, Brown dissented from an opinion striking down a parental consent law for abortions. Amendment may refer to: A change made to a law. ...

There were times during her tenure on the California Supreme Court that Brown demonstrated positions which may be considered out of character with traditional Conservative judicial philosophy, such as on criminal sentencing, freedom of speech and gun control.^{[citation needed]} She was the lone justice to contend that a provision in the California Constitution requires drug offenders be given treatment instead of jail time. In 2000, she authored the opinion in Kasler v. Lockyer, upholding the right of the State of California to ban semi-automatic firearms, and of the Attorney General of California to add to the list of prohibited weapons. Her opinion in that case clearly explained that the decision was not an endorsement of the policy, but rather recognition of the power of the state. Criminal justice refers to the system used by government to maintain social control, enforce laws, and administer justice. ... The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Gun politics. ... Drug rehabilitation (often shortened to drug rehab or just rehab) is an umbrella term for the processes of medical and/or psychotherapeutic treatment, for dependency on psychoactive substances such as alcohol, prescription drugs , and so-called street drugs such as cocaine, heroin or amphetamines. ... This article is about the year 2000. ... A semi-automatic firearm requires a trigger pull for each round that is fired. ...

Her reputation for libertarian political beliefs may be attributed to a speech she delivered to the Federalist Society at University of Chicago Law School in 2000. Brown’s speech mentions Ayn Rand and laments the triumph of "the collectivist impulse", in which capitalism receives "contemptuous tolerance but only for its capacity to feed the insatiable maw of socialism." She complains that "where government moves in, community retreats, civil society disintegrates, and our ability to control our own destiny atrophies," and suggests that the ultimate result for the United States has been a "debased, debauched culture which finds moral depravity entertaining and virtue contemptible." See also Libertarianism and Libertarian Party Libertarian,is a term for person who has made a conscious and principled commitment, evidenced by a statement or Pledge, to forswear violating others rights and usually living in voluntary communities: thus in law no longer subject to government supervision. ... The Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies, most frequently called simply the Federalist Society, began at Yale Law School, Harvard Law School, and the University of Chicago Law School in 1982 as a student organization that challenged what it saw as the orthodox American liberal ideology found in... The University of Chicago Law School is a part of the University of Chicago. ... It has been suggested that The Ayn Rand Collective be merged into this article or section. ... Capitalism is an economic system in which the means of production are mostly privately owned, and capital is invested in the production, distribution and other trade of goods and services, for profit in a competitive free market. ...

Her remarks gained particular attention, however, for her thesis that the 1937 court decisions upholding minimum-wage laws and New Deal programs marked "the triumph of our own socialist revolution", the culmination of "a particularly skewed view of human nature" that could be "traced from the Enlightenment, through the Terror, to Marx and Engels, to the Revolutions of 1917 and 1937." She calls instead for a return to Lochnerism, the pre-1937 view that the Constitution severely limits federal and state power to enact economic regulations. In an exegesis of Brown's speech that was largely responsible for bringing it to public attention during Brown's confirmation process in 2005, the legal-affairs analyst Stuart Taylor, Jr., noted, "Almost all modern constitutional scholars have rejected Lochnerism as 'the quintessence of judicial usurpation of power'", citing in particular "leading conservatives—including Justice Antonin Scalia, Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and former Attorney General Edwin Meese, as well as [Robert] Bork".[2] Holding Washingtons minimum wage law for women was a valid regulation of the right to contract freely because of the states special interest in protecting their health and ability to support themselves. ... Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: New Deal For other uses of New Deal and The New Deal, see New Deal (disambiguation). ... The Age of Enlightenment refers to either the eighteenth century in European philosophy, or the longer period including the seventeenth century and the Age of Reason. ... The Reign of Terror (5 September 1793 – 28 July 1794) or simply The Terror (French: la Terreur) was a period in the French Revolution characterized by brutal repression. ... Karl Heinrich Marx (May 5, 1818, Trier, Germany – March 14, 1883, London, England) was an immensely influential philosopher from Germany, a political economist, and a socialist revolutionary. ... Friedrich Engels (November 28, 1820, Wuppertal – August 5, 1895, London), a 19th-century German political philosopher, developed communist theory alongside his better-known collaborator, Karl Marx, co-authoring The Communist Manifesto (1848). ... The October Revolution, also known as the Bolshevik Revolution or November Revolution, was the second phase of the Russian Revolution of 1917, the first having been instigated by the events around the February Revolution. ... The switch in time that saved nine was the name given by the press to the apparent sudden shift by Justice Owen J. Roberts from the conservative wing of the Supreme Court (represented by the Four Horsemen) to the liberal wing (represented by Three Musketeers) in the case West Coast... The Lochner era is a period in American legal history from roughly 1890 to 1937 in which the United States Supreme Court tended to strike down economic regulations designed to improve working conditions, increase wages, or limit working hours in favor of laissez-faire economic policy. ... Antonin Gregory Scalia (born March 11, 1936) is an American jurist and the second most senior Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. ... Orrin Grant Hatch (born March 22, 1934) is a Republican United States Senator from Utah, serving since 1977. ... Edwin Meese III Edwin Ed Meese III (born December 2, 1931 in Oakland, California) served as the seventy-fifth Attorney General of the United States (1985-1988). ... Robert Bork Robert Heron Bork (born March 1, 1927 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) is a conservative American legal scholar who advocates the judicial philosophy of originalism. ...

United States Court of Appeals Judge

Brown was nominated by President Bush to the D.C. Circuit on July 25, 2003 to fill a seat vacated by retired Judge Stephen F. Williams. The Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on her nomination on October 22 of that same year. After her name had passed out of committee and had been sent to the full Senate, there was a failed cloture vote on her nomination on November 14, 2003. Brown's nomination was returned to the President under the standing rules of the Senate when the 108th Congress adjourned. July 25 is the 206th day (207th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar, with 159 days remaining. ... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Judge Stephen F. Williams was appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in June 1986, and took senior status in September 2001. ... The U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary (informally Senate Judiciary Committee) is a standing committee of the United States Senate, the upper house of the United States Congress. ... In parliamentary procedure, cloture (pr: KLO-cher) (also called closure) is a motion or process aimed at bringing debate to a quick end. ... November 14 is the 318th day of the year (319th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 47 days remaining until the end of the year. ... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... -1...

Bush renominated Brown on February 14, 2005, early in the first session of the 109th Congress. On April 21, 2005 the Senate Judiciary Committee again endorsed Brown and referred her name to the full Senate once more. On May 23, Senator John McCain announced an agreement between seven Republican and seven Democrat U.S. Senators, the Gang of 14, to ensure an up-or-down vote on Brown and several other stalled Bush nominees, including Priscilla Owen and William H. Pryor, Jr.. February 14 is the 45th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The 109th United States Congress meets from January 4, 2005, to January 1, 2007. ... April 21 is the 111th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (112th in leap years). ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... John Sidney McCain III (born August 29, 1936) is the senior U.S. Senator from Arizona, having served since 1987. ... The Gang of 14 (sometimes called the Mod Squad, with mod standing for moderate) was a term coined to describe the bipartisan group of moderate Senators who successfully negotiated a compromise to avoid the deployment of the so-called nuclear option over the organized use of the filibuster by Senate... Priscilla Owen (born in Palacios, Texas, October 4, 1954) is a judge in the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. ... William Holcombe Pryor, Jr. ...

On June 8, Brown was confirmed as a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit by a vote of 56-43. She received her commission on June 10. Although no official announcement of her swearing-in ceremony was made, she began hearing federal cases on September 8, 2005. The NAACP opposed the confirmation of Brown, labeling her "Extreme Right-Wing,"^[1] as did the Feminist Majority Foundation, "extreme right-wing,"^[2], People For the American Way, "extreme right-wing,"^[3] the National Council of Jewish Women, "extreme right-wing"^[4] Senator Ted Kennedy, "extreme right-wing,"^[5] and the National Organization for Women, "extreme right-wing."^[6] The United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, known informally as the D.C. Circuit, is the federal appellate court for the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. ... The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), is one of the oldest and most influential hate organizations in the United States. ...

During the summer of 2005, she was considered a candidate to replace Sandra Day O'Connor as an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, but John Roberts was chosen instead.^{[citation needed]} Later, after the death of Chief Justice William Rehnquist and a change in Roberts' nomination to replace Rehnquist, O'Connor's position again became available. However, White House counsel Harriet Miers was nominated on October 3. With Miers' withdrawal of her nomination on October 27 speculation again arose that Brown would emerge as President Bush's choice for the Court. ^{[citation needed]} On October 31, the President nominated Judge Samuel Alito of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit to O'Connor's seat, and he was confirmed by the Senate on January 31, 2006. Sandra Day OConnor (born March 26, 1930) is a former American jurist and politician who served as the first female Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1981 to 2006. ... The Supreme Court Building, Washington, D.C. The Supreme Court Building, Washington, D.C., (large image) The Supreme Court of the United States, located in Washington, D.C., is the highest court (see supreme court) in the United States; that is, it has ultimate judicial authority within the United States... John Glover Roberts, Jr. ... William Hubbs Rehnquist (October 1, 1924 – September 3, 2005) was an American lawyer, jurist, and a political figure, who served as an Associate Justice on the Supreme Court of the United States and later as the Chief Justice of the United States. ... Harriet Miers Harriet Ellan Miers (born August 10, 1945 in Dallas, Texas) is an American lawyer, currently serving as White House Counsel. ... Samuel Anthony Alito, Jr. ... The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the following United States District Courts: District of Delaware District of New Jersey Western, Middle, and Eastern Districts of Pennsylvania District of the United States Virgin Islands The court is based at...

External links and references

• U.S. Court of Appeals Resume of Judge Janice Rogers Brown
• Video of Judge Brown's Investiture
• U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Legal Policy, Resume of Janice Rogers Brown
• Taylor, Stuart Jr. (May 3, 2005). Does the President agree with this nominee?. The Atlantic online
• Professor Orin Kerr on Janice Rogers Brown's libertarian tendencies
• "Lynch Mob Gathers Around Justice Brown, Part II"
• "Lynch Mob Gathers Around Justice Brown, Part III"
• Short Biography by 'Save Our Courts'
• More on Brown from 'Save Our Courts'
• Senator Harry Reid's Statement Against Brown's Nomination
• "The Bizarre Legal Philosophy of Justice Janice Rogers Brown"

References

Hi-Voltage Wire Works, Inc. v. City of San Jose, (2000) 24 Cal.4th 537 , 101 Cal.Rptr.2d 653; 12 P.3d 1068 (California court decision overturning race-based contracting set-asides adopted by the city of San Jose, California. Link requires free registration.) Nickname: Capital of Silicon Valley Location of San Jose within Santa Clara County, California. ...

Notes

1. ^ Civil Rights Federal Legislative Report Card, 109th Congress, First Session (PDF). NAACP (January 2006). Retrieved on 2006-10-06.
2. ^ Feminist News WireAccessed October 5, 2006
3. ^ People for the American Way Accessed October 5, 2006
4. ^ NCJW Deeply Concerned by Confirmation of Janice Rogers Brown (Press release) National Council of Jewish Women, Accessed October 5, 2006
5. ^ Senator Kennedy's Floor Speech on the Nuclear Option Accessed October 5, 2006
6. ^ Battle Continues Over Right-Wing Judicial Nominees National Organization for Women, Accessed October 5, 2006