20 May 2005 Project 21 Press Release: Black Activists Praise Janice Rogers Brown; Say Nominee “Epitomizes the Greatness of America”

Activists from the black leadership network Project 21 are praising Senate leaders for their efforts to secure an up-or-down vote on the nomination of California Supreme Court Justice Janice Rogers Brown for a seat on the federal Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, along with votes on other judicial nominees. While they have not formally taken a position on Justice Brown’s confirmation, Project 21 members consider Brown an excellent judge.

“The straight up-or-down vote on Justice Brown’s nomination is humiliatingly long overdue,” said Project 21 member Mychal Massie. “Janice Rogers Brown epitomizes the greatness of America. Unlike any other country, being born disadvantaged and poor, as she was, does not relegate one to a lifetime of the same. Because of her hard work and self-discipline – and the success it brought her – she should be hailed as a role model of American achievement.”

Justice Brown is the daughter of an Alabama sharecropper who began her education in a segregated school. Her family later moved to California where she earned a law degree and spent the last 25 years in public service. After serving in lower state courts, she was appointed to the California Supreme Court in 1996. She was nominated to the D.C. Circuit in July of 2003.

The nomination of Justice Brown had previously been blocked by a filibuster organized by a minority of detractors in the Senate. A recent reform of the Senate rules aimed at stopping the abuse of the filibuster and allow nominees to be considered in the full Senate in a fair and timely manner is currently being employed to bring the Brown nomination up for a confirmation vote.

Project 21 takes no position on the confirmation of any particular judicial nominee, but believes that it is in the best interest of the United States that judicial vacancies be filled with appropriate speed.

Project 21, a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization, has been a leading voice of the African-American community since 1992. For more information visit Project 21’s website at http://www.project21.org/P21Index.html.