01 Dec 2003 Project 21 Press Release: Black Network Files Complaint Against NAACP Attorney; Unethical Influence in Shaping Constitutional Cases Charged – December 2003

The African-American leadership network Project 21 is asking the Virginia State Bar to investigate NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, Inc president and director-counsel Elaine R. Jones.

“Obstructionism is the order of the day in the Senate,” said Project 21 member Gregory Parker of New Braunfels, Texas. “Now we know that this judicial obstructionism is part of a carefully orchestrated plan by a few senators and left-wing special interest groups.”

The complaint, to be filed on December 4, 2003, charges that “Ms. Jones violated both the spirit and letter of the Virginia Rules of Professional Conduct when she intentionally acted to influence and disrupt an impartial tribunal that was then in the deliberative process of considering a landmark constitutional case in which she was counsel to one of the parties.”

In memos recently leaked from the Senate Judiciary Committee, it’s noted that Jones contacted the office of Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) on April 17, 2002 to delay the confirmation of judicial nominees to the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals until after that court decided on a challenge to the University of Michigan’s affirmative action policy (the school’s policy was affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court this past June). According to the memo, Jones – who was participating in the case – was concerned that “if a new judge… is confirmed before the case is decided, that new judge will be able… to review the case and vote on it.”

If the memo is accurate, it apparently shows an attempt by Jones to “intentionally… disrupt and exert improper influence on the judicial body having her client’s pending case by requesting that a U.S. senator and member of the Senate Judiciary Committee stack the judicial deck in her favor.” Other leaked memos indicate that liberal special interest groups were able to exert an extraordinary influence on the Committee during the 2001-2003 tenure of Chairman Pat Leahy (D-VT). The memos are available at http://fairjudiciary.campsol.com/cfj_contents/press/collusionmemos.shtml.

Project 21 is joined by the Center for Individual Freedom, the Coalition for a Fair Judiciary and the Congress of Racial Equality in submitting the complaint against Jones.

Project 21 has been a leading voice of the African-American community since 1992. For more information, contact David Almasi at (202) 507-6398 x106 or [email protected], or visit Project 21’s website at http://www.project21.org/P21Index.html.