Please help oppose an anti-environment judge

[oxbow]

The Senate is set for a showdown vote on the nomination of former mining industry lobbyist William Myers III to be a senior federal judge. Myers has called extending parts of the Clean Water Act unconstitutional and, as the top lawyer at Bush's Interior Department, consistently sided with Big Oil and other polluters.

Go here to send a letter to your senators
http://www.workingforchange.com/activism/action.cfm?itemid=18850

Here's my letter. I changed some portions of the one that comes up by default.

I and my entire family strongly urge you to oppose the confirmation of William Myers III to a lifetime federal judgeship on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Mr. Myers has consistently acted against the interests of our environment and thus, against the interests of the American people. The recently completed Millennium Ecosystem Assessment says that our environment is being tested to its limits like never before, and that we need to enact dramatic change in order to keep the planet habitable for future generations. In this bad-case scenario, we cannot afford anti-environment judges like Mr. Myers would be if confirmed.<-- this part is my own

Myers's career as a mining lobbyist is of particular concern to me. His actions as the Interior Department's Solicitor demonstrate his inability to serve as an impartial jurist in cases involving natural resources or public health. His lack of sufficient legal credentials caused the American Bar Association to give Mr. Myers its lowest passing grade for a nominee.

Mr. Myers's call to elevate property rights to the level of "a fundamental right" under the Constitution would result in striking down many of our nation's important environmental laws as well as many other health and safety regulations. As Solicitor for the Department of Interior, Myers's key decisions were rebuked and overturned by the Federal bench and his own Department of Interior. These raise serious concerns for me about his ability to impartially serve in the role for which he has been nominated.

Mr. Myers's extreme anti-environment positions make him an unfit candidate for the federal bench, especially as a Court of Appeals judge for the Circuit Court whose jurisdiction contains more National Parks, National Forests, and federal public lands than any other.

I strongly urge you to oppose the confirmation of William Myers to the federal bench and to oppose any effort to invoke cloture to end debate on this judicial nominee. Thank you for your immediate attention to this critical matter.

[oxbow]

1. kick

[oldcoot]

2. It sounds like he is an activist judge

I will most certainly send a letter expressing my opposition.

[oldcoot]

3. Another Kick

This is important.

[Viking12]

4. There is a great artcile in the current Atlantic Monthly

arguing that the biggest threat from radical conservative judicail appointments will be to the environment -- even more devastating than the damage to reproductive rights.

The article is only available online via subscription. If you get the chance, I highly recommended reading it.

[oldcoot]

5. Thanks for the tip

One of the biggest reasons I hate the Bush Administration is the administration's assault on the environment. I do not understand how anyone can claim to support "the Culture of Life" without supporting protecting the environment since all living things need clean air and water to survive.

[savannahana]

6. another letter sent - thanks, oxbow

Signed up at the site, checking out the other initiatives too.

I've run across scoop on Myers before...will post links here if I can find where I saved 'em, or may just google him up again.

Fire in the belly here to fight this crony-loading of more criminals, especially the ones who'll be there "for life" :mad:

thanks again! :thumbsup: :kick: