Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The skanner. (Portland, Or.) 1975-2014 | View Entire Issue (June 12, 2013)
Opinion Obama’s Fight to Confirm Judges “Challenging People to Shape a Better Future Now” B ERNIE F OSTER Founder/Publisher B OBBIE D ORE F OSTER Executive Editor T ED B ANKS Advertising Manager J ERRY F OSTER Account Executive L ISA L OVING News Editor H ELEN S ILVIS Multimedia Editor B RUCE P OINSETTE Reporter D AVID K IDD Graphic Designer M ONICA J. F OSTER Seattle Office Coordinator J ULIE K EEFE S USAN F RIED Photographers The Skanner Newspaper, established in October 1975, is a weekly publica- tion, published each Wednesday by IMM Publications Inc., 415 N. Killingsworth St., P.O. Box 5455, Portland, OR 97228. T he next major showdown in Washington may not be over how best to reduce the deficit or involve another Obama cabinet appointment. Look for sparks to fly over the president’s constitutional prerogative to nom- inee federal judges and the Sen- ate’s responsibility to either confirm or reject those nominees. The latest manifestation of this is President Obama’s decision to fill three vacancies on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, a frequent step- ping stone to the Supreme Court. The president said he is merely fulfilling his constitutional respon- sibility as president, but Republi- cans are accusing him of “packing the court.” Clearly, the courts are anything but packed. In fact, more than 10 percent of all judgeships are unfilled. There are 87 vacancies, up from the 55 when Obama first took office. To fully appreciate the signifi- cance of this standoff, it is impor- tant to remember that in their effort to radically shift the nation to the right over the past two decades, Republicans have gone all out to control the federal judici- ary by placing young, arch conser- vatives on the bench. According to a March 5 report by the Alliance for Justice titled, “The State of the Judiciary: Judi- cial Selection At the Beginning of President Obama’s Second Term,” Republican appointees still control the federal judiciary. However, the study found, “Since the end of the Bush Admin- istration, the percentage of Repub- lican-appointed circuit judges Telephone (503) 285-5555. E-mail: info@theskanner.com World Wide Web site: http://www.theskanner.com Fax: (503) 285-2900 The Skanner is a member of the National Newspaper Pub lishers Associ- ation and West Coast Black Pub lishers Association. All photos submitted become the property of The Skanner. We are not re - spon sible for lost or damaged photos either solicited or unsolicited. © 2012 The Skanner. ALL RIGHTS RE SERVED. REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART WITHOUT PERMISSION PROHIBITED. To see The Skanner News on your smart phone go to theskannermobile.com or scan this QR code with your app. • • • • • • • • Local news Opinions Jobs, Bids Sports Entertainment Music reviews Bulletin board RSS feeds T HE C URRY R EPORT George E. Curry dropped from 61.3% to 51.2%, and the percentage of Republican- appointed district court judges dropped from 58.6% to 53.6%.” May 2, titled, “President Obama’s First Term U.S. Circuit and Dis- trict Court Nominations: An Analysis and Comparison with Presidents Since Reagan.” It noted, “President Obama is the only one of the five most recent Presidents for whom, dur- ing his first term, both the average and median waiting time from nomination to confirmation for circuit and district court nominees was greater than half a calendar year (i.e., more than 182 days).” There is plenty of blame to go Republicans have gone all out to control the federal judiciary by placing young, arch conservatives on the bench. Political affiliation isn’t the only thing that is changing. “President Obama’s nominees have been the most diverse in terms of race and gender in Amer- ican history,” according to the report. “Forty-one percent of his appointees have been women and 36% have been people of color, a far higher percentage than any of his predecessors.” Bill Clinton had the second-best record, with 29 percent of his appointees women and 24 percent people of color. Obama’s record would have been even more impressive had he made nominations at the same pace of his immediate predeces- sors. The Congressional Research Service (CRS) issued a report on around for such a slow confirma- tion pace, beginning with Obama. “… Of the 81 circuit or district court vacancies that existed at the end of President Obama’s first term, 50 (or 61.7%) were vacan- cies for which, as of January 19, 2013, the President had not select- ed a nominee,” the CRS study found. And even when Obama did sub- mit names, the study found, his confirmation rate was lower than most of his immediate predeces- sors. “Among the first five Presidents during their first terms… Presi- dent G.H.W. Bush had the greatest number of circuit court nominees confirmed, 42. President Reagan had the greatest percentage of cir- cuit nominees confirmed during his first term (86.8%). In contrast, President Obama had the second- lowest percentage of circuit court nominees confirmed (71.4%) and is tied with President Clinton for having the lowest number of cir- cuit nominees confirmed, 30.” There was a similar pattern with district court nominees, with Obama having the second-lowest number and percentage confirmed. Although Obama has done an impressive job appointing nomi- nees who reflect racial and gender diversity, he has not done as well with professional diversity, according to the report by the Alliance for Justice. While Obama has appointed 99 ex-prosecutors, he has nominated only 33 former public defenders and 16 former academics. Á professionally diverse judici- ary better reflects the range of legal and societal experiences that judges bring to the bench,” the report observed. “A judiciary heavily slanted toward former cor- porate attorneys and prosecutors lack the perspective of lawyers who have represented clients in criminal defense, consumer and environmental protection, person- al injury, and other public interest fields.” Unlike Republicans, Obama has tended to nominate older candi- dates to the bench, averaging 51.3 years old. That’s typically 2-5 years older than Republican appointees. And that could come back to haunt Democrats in the future. Read the rest online at www.theskanner.com Is ‘Big Brother’ Racially Biased? W hen George Orwell wrote the novel 1984, he envisioned a character, real or imagined “Big Brother” who was a know-all, see-all, omnipotent and elusive presence that intruded into lives because he could. Those who knew about “him” were told that they did not exist, but in many ways, Big Brother may not have existed, either. The omnipotence had taken on a life of its own. Orwell’s book was a book ahead of its time. At a different time, his book could have been dismissed as psychedelic fantasy. Today, he is just a step behind the reality in which we live. Verizon is sharing telephone records. The Depart- ment of Justice is monitoring jour- nalists, and the IRS is playing games with those who seek non- profit status. People pulled over for a minor traffic violation will have to submit fingerprints to find out if they have broken other laws. Big Brother is alive and well in too many layers of our lives, Meanwhile, market researchers are segmenting populations by zip code and consumer patterns. They can tell you what percentage of Whites, African Americans or Latinos live in a certain zip code. They can tell you what you earn, what you are worth, and how many of your neighbors have criminal records. The zip code data drives marketers. Does it also Page 4 The Portland Skanner June 12, 2013 B ENNETT C OLLEGE Julianne Malveaux drive law enforcement? A recent study indicated that African Americans are between 2 and 6 percent more likely to be arrested for marijuana violations that Whites. I guess it is easier to arrest from a corner than from a is a lot easier to pick up a few cit- izens enjoying marijuana in a park than banging down the doors of an elite country club. Yet data about marijuana usages suggests that there is little to distinguish the habits of African Americans from those of Whites. The only differ- ence is the arrest rate. Big Brother knows. Big Brother has driven the kind of demographic that will tell you where you can find low-income, highly unemployed individuals, regardless of race. Big Brother can tell you who can afford lawyers and who cannot. Big Differences in marijuana arrests raise real questions about the many ways that data may be used to discriminate country club. The rate of arrests for marijuana possession is 716 per 100,000 for African Ameri- cans, compared to 192 per 100,000 for Whites. The disparity is much higher in some counties. Does this mean that African Americans are breaking more laws, or that law enforcement offi- cers are targeting some zip codes or communities more regularly? It Brother can drive police to investi- gate the least and the left out, those who are most vulnerable, while deciding to allow others to slink behind their space of class and privilege. Big Brother can play bang for buck games that make it more profitable to arrest those with few resources in the hood instead of those with home- based protection. Data collection seems to be a race-neutral process. While data collection is an input, arrests are an output. Between input and out- put there is the opportunity for racial bias to show up. If White folk and Black folk take an equal toke, why are Black folk more likely to be arrested? Are zip codes driving public safety offi- cers to one place and deterring them from another? Differences in marijuana arrests raise real questions about the many ways that data may be used to discriminate. Instead of struc- tural racism, intrinsic racism, and other forms of racism, we now have a data-based racism that is only logical when we ask how data is collected. Simply put, the zip code data leads people to discrim- inate, if only because they are being led to single out a certain population. In other words you can be a non- racial racist. You can let the data, warped though it may be, lead you to biased conclusions. Data-based racism is as corrosive as emotion- based racism. Big Brother’s racial biases is nothing more than par for the course. Julianne Malveaux is a Wash- ington, D.C.-based economist and writer. She is President Emerita of Bennett College for Women in Greensboro, N.C.
