Human Rights Campaign (GLBT) Announces Opposition to Roberts

[Zenlitened]

Dear _____,

Today, HRC announced our opposition to the nomination of John Roberts to fill the vacancy left by moderate Justice Sandra Day O’Connor on the Supreme Court following a decision by our Board of Directors. I wanted to make sure that you, as one of our valued members and supporters, were informed right away about this decision.

Our decision is based on a variety of factors, including John Roberts' extremely skeptical view of the constitutional right to privacy—a view that could seriously endanger our rights as defined in Lawrence v. Texas; his hostility towards enforcement of civil rights; his severely limited view of the role of the courts to protect individual rights and liberties and his views about the separation of church and state.

As you may know, HRC has been involved in judicial nominations throughout the Bush Administration. Taking a moderate stance based upon clearly articulated criteria, we have opposed only those nominees whose records indicated a clear hostility to the enforcement of civil rights. In all, we opposed only seven of the more than 200 nominees named by President Bush. Given what we have seen of his record, we now feel strongly that John Roberts rises to this level and opposing his nomination is the right thing to do - not only for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community, but in order to protect the civil rights of all Americans. Materials regarding our position can be found on our website at www.hrc.org/supremecourt.

You should also know that we have considered his noteworthy participation in Romer v. Evans - the landmark Supreme Court case protecting people from discrimination based on sexual orientation. Although his participation might indicate that he is not personally hostile to GLBT people, other aspects of his record lead us to believe that had he been on the Court, he would have voted with the three dissenters in Romer—Rehnquist, Scalia, and Thomas. The fact that he has been tapped to replace a moderate justice who stood with us in this case is a cause for great concern.

Our action is well coordinated with and appreciated by the larger civil rights coalition, working on this nomination in Washington, DC, led by the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights and the Alliance for Justice. We are joined in our opposition by key GLBT allies, such as the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force (NGLTF), National Center for Lesbian Rights (NCLR) and Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG), and have released a joint statement of opposition with our colleague organizations.

Over the coming days, the GLBT community will be joined by other communities – the African American community, the Hispanic community and other civil rights communities. We recognize that a threat to the civil rights of one community is a threat to the civil rights of all communities. I hope that we can count on you in the days and weeks ahead
to stand with us and raise your voices to challenge and oppose a nominee who could seriously threaten the rights and liberties of so many Americans.

Warmly,

Joe Solmonese
HRC President