Coalition of Black Pastors Rallying Behind Call for End of Filibuster
by Bill Fancher
May 20, 2005
(AgapePress) - Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist is getting support from a group of black pastors who say judicial nominees like Janice Rogers Brown deserve an up-or-down vote.Republicans in the U.S. Senate have filed a "cloture petition," a move that is intended to force an end to the Democratic-led filibuster of judicial nominees. The Senate is scheduled to vote on the matter on Tuesday. Two-thirds of the senators (67) must vote in favor of the cloture for it to pass. Frist says if that vote fails, he will move to have the filibusters declared out of order for federal judicial nominees -- a move Democrats have labeled the "nuclear option."
On Thursday (May 19), black religious leaders demanded that senators stop filibustering, and vote "up or down on Janice Brown." At a Capitol Hill news conference with Frist, the clergy members accused Democrats of blocking a confirmation vote on Brown because she is a black conservative.
Bishop Harry Jackson, president of the High Impact Leadership Coalition, said judges like Brown are needed to stop courts from overruling the people with decisions like those requiring the legalization of same-sex "marriage." Standing outside the Capitol, Jackson asked a question about those leading the filibuster: "Why are they afraid to put a black woman on the court?"
Jackson contends Democrats oppose Janice Rogers Brown because she will not find new constitutional rights that are not in the text. "The advocates for issues like same-sex marriage cannot find popular support to change the long-standing institutions of our land," he said. "Therefore they are using the back door in what I'm going to call 'legal sleight of hand' in order to get their way."
Jackson said America needs moral judges like Judge Brown and the other filibustered nominees on the courts -- not more judicial activists.
"Years ago there were people in the South who wore white robes and white hoods. They intimidated many ethnic groups and other groups," he stated. "Today I believe that black-robed vigilantes are operating in the guise of American tradition, and they have taken away the true rights on an entire culture."
Christians, he said, are uniting against immoral judicial rulings. "The black church is going to clasp hands with the white evangelical church, and we are going to be a part of turning America's moral compass back to the way that it needs to be." Black and white churches, he said, are uniting to restore "America's moral compass."
According to Bishop Jackson, moral blacks will no longer march in lockstep with Democrats. He said the party's agenda must be one of morality and righteousness in order to win over the vote of this new black church.
At a separate news conference, Rev. Timothy McDonald, who heads African American Ministers in Action, defended filibusters against Brown and another of Bush's nominees, Texas Supreme Court Judge Priscilla Owen. McDonald called them "ideological and pro-corporate judges who will not give ordinary Americans a fair hearing."
Bill Fancher, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.Associated Press contributed to this story.
