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About Portland observer. (Portland, Or.) 1970-current | View Entire Issue (July 30, 1986)
. I- hfi.1 w >• * •• M *JU m V . n - . » « , S r t . , „ . s . . „ , w P3C, U° v e r s i t z o f Oregon L ib rs ry b* * n 9 ' PORTLAND OBSERMER Volum© XVI. Number 38 July 30. 1986 25C fe , I f » The Reagan A d m in is tra tio n 's federal c o u rts ' con servative appointees are slo w ly closin g the gates » i on concerns o f m in o ritie s Photo by Richard J B ro w n Northwest Senators Play Key Role in Confirmation Controversial Judge by Jerry Garner Last Wednesday the U S Seriate failed to reconsider a vote taken June 26, which confirmed Presi dent Reagan's nominee Daniel A Manion, an Indiana lawyer to the 74th U S. Court of Appeals in Chi cago. During the June confirmation vote. Manion was confirmed 48 46 by the Senate Although Vice President George Bush, who is the Senate’s presiding officer, cast the deciding 50th vote against a reconsideration vote, senators from the Pacific Northwest played vital roles in getting the con troversial Manion (whose father was the founder of the ultra conserva tive John Birch Society) confirmed to the federal bench in the first place One of the mam reasons for Man ion's comfirmation in June is the result of a deal Senator Slade Gor don. R Wash, made with the White House Gordon in the beginning had voted against the Manion nomi nation but changed his vote to yes after the Reagan Administration in formed him that his nominee and personal friend William Dwyer would be appointed to a U S Dist riet Court position in Seattle for changing his vote Gordon took the White House deal without hesita tion. Besides Gordon, two more Northwest senators played crucial roles in the seating of Manion Gordon's fellow senator Daniel Evans. R Wash St., also played a vital role in the confirmation of Man ion. The Washington State Senator refused to vote on the reconsidera tion motion. Evans was one of the four GOP senators who voted against Manion last June. Evans was quoted as saying that he didn't think reconsidering a vote was a good practice and that it wasn't justified in the Manion case. Ore gon Senator Mark Hatfield voted in favor of Manion's nomination, while Senator Packwood voted no Those senators who voted against confirming Manion argued that he wasn’t qualified to serve on the federal ap ils court Another mason for the r refusal to seat him was due to his ultra conservative ideological views and his John Birch Society connection Manion received the lowest pas sing grade given by the American Bar Association Furthermore, the Chicago Council of Lawyers stated that after reviewing five of his legal briefs, they found them dotted with spelling and punctuation errors, bad grammar, poor organization, and less than forceful arguments The Manion episode brought to focus once again the controversy surrounding President Reagan s appointees to the federal bench Critics of the Administration have alledged that Reagan is not con earned so much about the qualified tion of his nominees as he is about their ideological beliefs. Civil rights organizations and civil libertarians believe that Reagan is , trying to bring on the changes through the judicial process and through the Justice Department The Reagan Administration is seeking individual judges for the federal bench who believe in "judi cial restraint". The President's Attorney General, Edwin Meese III, has been criticized for trying to limit judicial power because he (with the President’s approval) wants to limit the rights of members of mino rities seeking redress Mease's attacks on Affirmative Action pro grams has become a major topic of discussion among civil rights groups around the nation. Furthermore, Reagan has begun to nominate judges for the federal court who are overtly insensitive to the concerns of minorities In June, for the first time, the Senate Judiciary Committee rejec ted a Reagan nominee, Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III. for a feder al court position in Alabama Ses sions once called the NAACP ” un Am erican," characterized a White civil rights lawyer as a "disgrace to his race," and described the Ku Klux Kian as "O K ". Although precedent restricts the roles of federal courts, tfie courts have a major influence in our so ciety The U S. Supreme Court hears only about 150 cases each term On the other hand, in fiscal year 1984, the nation’s 12 appeals courts ruled on 31,387 cases. So far, during his tenure as Presi dent, Reagan has appointed 267 judges to the federal bench. At the current pace, by the end of Rea gan's second term, he will have named more than half of the 743 federal judges Shooting Leaves Man Dead by Jerry Garner One man was killed and another w ounded last W ednesday in a parking lot on N.E. Union Avenue during a dispute. The dead victim was identified as Carl E. DeWeese, J r., 31, o f 311 N Jessup St. Tfie w ounded victim was Jerry Crain, 29, of 5035 N E. 10th Avenue. A ccording to O fficer Henry Groepper, the Police Bureau's Public Inform ation O fficer, police received a call from someone at the Union Avenue Disco, 3905 N.E. U nion, to report a shooting W hen police arrived, they found DeWeese lying in a parking lot next to the curb and Crain inside a car w ith tw o other men. A lthough the Observer c o u ld n 't locate anyone w ho w it nessed the shooting, we did locate three individuals w ho saw a portion of the afterm ath o f the tragic incident A ccording to one witness, he saw a man w ho he referred to as Crain's brother beat DeWeese w ith the butt o f a 9M M pistol as he laid m ortally w ounded in the parking lot. The witness said someone had told him that Crain's brother kicked the gun out o f DeWeese s hand as he fled, and then proceeded to beat him w ith the gun. DeWeese, although seriously injured, was trying to defend him self from tfie pistol w h ip plin g. He was try ing to fig ht him o ff; he was fighting for his life. He was fig htin g the attacker o ff until he was hit real hard w ith that gun. Then he (DeWeese) fell to the g ro u n d ." The witness went ori to say that after DeWeese dropped to the ground, the unidentified man continued to beat him. "I tried to stop him. I held him, and he told me to let him go. He had a pistol in his hand, so I released h im ." Joe Reese, owner o f the Union Avenue Disco, said that he was upset about the fact that the news media had reported that the shooting occurred at his club He was also critical of the manner in w hich the police and the medical personnel con ducted themselves once they arrived at the shooting scene. "Instead o f making room for the ambulance so it could get clo ser to the victim , the police made no e ffo rt to m ove their cars for the ambulance. The ambulance had to park on the far lane on Union A v e n u e ," said Reese. Reese also said the police were rough w ith an acquaintance of DeWeese, w ho was trying to co m fort him. "T h e young man w asn't interferring w ith the medical personnel He was just telling DeWeese to hang on, d o n 't die'. W hen the young man tried to enter the am bulance so he could accom pany the victim to the hospital, he was grabbed by tfie police. Tfie police d id n 't show any sym p a th y,'' said Reese. A nother person told the Observer that the ambulance atten dants d id n 't show m uch concern about DeW eese's condition "T h e y grabbed him and threw him on the stretcher like he was a sack o f p o ta to e s ." The person said after the victim was loaded into the ambulance, 10 m inutes elapsed before they took o ff "D u rin g this tim e, the crow d had begun to get pretty upset about the s itu a tio n ." DeWeese died at 3:55 a m. during surgery at Emanual Hos pital, according to Dr medical examiner. Karen Gunson, a M ultnom ah C ounty Gunson, w ho perform ed an autopsy on DeWeese last Friday, ruled that he died from a gunshot w ound in the abdomen. O fficer Groepper said police have not charged anyone w ith DeWeese's death and the investigation is continuing Reagan's South Africa Speech Draws Criticism by Jerry Garner President Reagan was criticized worldwide after giving a major po licy speech on South Africa last Tuesday Prior to his speech in the White House Eastroom, many thought Reagan would announce a major shift from his constructive engagement policy toward the White minority government of Pre toria. Instead Reagan made a speech similar to the ones he has made in the past. The President condemned the racist Pretoria government, calling the system of Aparthiod wrong and immoral Yet, like he has done in the past, refused to impose new economic sanctions on South Africa Reagan said, sanctions will only deepen the crisis in that racially torn nation If post Aparthied South Africa is to remain the economic locamotive of South Africa, its strongly developed economy must not be crippled Therefore, I urge r tfie Congress and the countries of Western Europe to resist this emo tional clamor' for punitive sanc tions." Reagan argued that if Congress imposed economic sanctions against South Africa, the U S. will lose leverage and make the situation worse in that repressive country. Reaction to Reagan’s speech drew sharp criticism worldwide and local ly. The official Democratic response to his speech was given by Con -z . majority whose rights have been denied, whose lives are being lost, and to whom justice is being de med, 'maintain your hope, but do nothing to end this oppression'." Bishop Demond Tutu called the( Reagari speech "nauseating". "I am quite angry; the West, on my part, could go to hell " Bishop Tutu was talking about the leaders of the U.S., West Germany, and Great Britian, not the people of those countries. "The people of those & countries have been magnificent, especially the young people in the U S who helped to change the moral climate dramatically," said Tutu Reagan's speech was condemned by Avel Gordly, an anti Aparthied activist in Portland Gordly. Direc tor of the South Africa Program for the American Friend Service Com mittee. said the content of President I?*. & ? . 4 ‘ & » C on t on page 8 * * » : •W «• ? -e ■ . gressman William Gray, D Penn. Gray, who is an African American, said the Administration's approach sends the wrong message to both Whites and Blacks in South Africa Senator Gray said, "Reagan said to the racist minority regime of Pre tone, 'We are your friends. Don't cut our friendship off We want your minerals, we want to work w ith you and continue our invest ment and loans ' Then the Presi dent said this to the 28 million Black I *V?**/.’ » . . . • • . 1 * > ’a ’ •
