Return to Home
 
  Confirmation Watch
 


CFIF Launches Ad in The Washington Times and The Hill

Ad campaign questions Senator Kennedy on ‘Obstruction of Justice’ To download the pdf, click here.


Send this story to a friend
Enter recipient's e-mail:



 


 

 

 


C e n t e r   F o r   I n d i v i d u a l   F r e e d o m

 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 24, 2004

Contact: Jeffrey Mazzella

703.535.5836

CFIF Launches Ad Campaign Questioning Senator Kennedy on ‘Obstruction of Justice’

Alexandria, VA — The Center for Individual Freedom today launched the first in a series of ads questioning U.S. Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA) on whether or not he "obstructed justice" in the University of Michigan affirmative action cases then-pending before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit.

The ad campaign focuses on an April 17, 2002, memorandum to Senator Kennedy from one of his aides detailing a request from Elaine Jones, President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund, to delay Senate action on all judicial nominees to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit until after the affirmative action cases were decided by that court. Jones represented Defendant-Intervenors in the case challenging the constitutionality of the University’s undergraduate affirmative action admissions policy.

"Senator Kennedy has some explaining to do," said Jeffrey Mazzella, the Center’s Executive Director. "It’s clear to us that Jones transgressed ethical boundaries when she attempted to stack the judicial deck in her favor. It is also clear to us that two of Senator Kennedy’s aides violated those same ethical boundaries when they made the recommendation to postpone Senate action on at least one nominee to the 6th Circuit, despite acknowledging the impropriety of doing so. What is not clear is what, if any, actions Senator Kennedy took to ensure that no new judges were confirmed to the 6th Circuit before the cases were decided," Mazzella continued.

"Senator Kennedy has violated the public’s trust in his role as a U.S. Senator," said Mazzella. "Yet, despite ample opportunities to clear his name of any wrongdoing, Senator Kennedy continues to hide behind a wall of silence."

The first round of ads is scheduled to run this week in The Washington Times and The Hill.

"We have heard from thousands of individuals from across the country demanding to know if Senator Kennedy used his power to ‘obstruct justice’ in the most important civil rights cases in more than 25 years," said Mazzella. "It’s time for Senator Kennedy to come clean. He owes that much to his constituents and the American people."

The Center for Individual Freedom (www.cfif.org) is a nonpartisan constitutional advocacy group that fights to protect individual freedom and rights in the legal, legislative and educational arenas. Since 2001, the Center’s Confirmation Watch project has worked to expose and eliminate the corruption and manipulation that plagues the judicial confirmation process in the United States Senate.

###

 



[Posted March 24, 2004]