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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH
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To: Skywatcher who wrote (481405)10/26/2003 8:43:39 PM
From: Gordon A. Langston  Read Replies (1) of 769667
 
Unspin - What is the "mainstream" and what makes you an "extremist."
Critics of federal judicial nominee Janice Rogers Brown say she's out of the legal mainstream. That just means they disagree with her.















The Issue: What is the "mainstream" and what makes you an "extremist."

The Spin: Critics of federal judicial nominee Janice Rogers Brown emphasize that she's "far out of the legal mainstream" (David Seldin, NARAL Pro-Choice America) and "embraces the extremism of Thomas and Scalia" (Ralph Neas, People for the American Way)

The Unspin: These terms almost always mean nothing other than "I disagree" in a way intended to marginalize one's opponent without actually engaging his or her ideas or views. They should be viewed with suspicion whenever uttered. In the case of Janice Rogers Brown they are marvelously inappropriate.

To give People for the American Way credit, it did analyze her decisions, and was especially critical of two: a dissent when the majority threw out a parental-consent for abortion law, and a decision to throw out a city affirmative-action program. As Santa Clara University law professor Gerald Uelmen points out, in both decisions she was joined by the famously liberal late Justice Stanley Mosk.

Justice Brown wrote the decision that affirmed that Prop. 209, which banned race preferences by government institutions, was constitutional. Let's see, that one was passed by 55 percent of California voters. Are they "out of the mainstream"? The court's decision was unanimous. Were they all "extremist"? California Supreme Court justices go before voters for approval, and in 1998 Janice Brown got 76 percent approval, ahead of three other justices. Were the voters who approved her "out of the mainstream"?

Let's dump those terms and talk about issues.
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