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Monday, Jul. 19, 2004William G. Myers III Weiner
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~~~
Frist Triggers Senate Battle Today Over Controversial Circuit Court Nominee
Apparently determined to set off one more high-visibility battle over a controversial judicial nomination, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN), set the stage for a debate today and a floor vote tomorrow on a nominee whose extreme anti-environmental record will be the focus of the debate.
William G. Myers III, formerly a top lobbyist for the beef and mining industries, has been nominated by President Bush for a seat on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. Perhaps the nation's most significant appeals court when it comes to environmental precedents, the 9th Circuit covers nine western states which include some 489 million acres of federal public lands.
After serving two years as the solicitor (top lawyer) for President Bush's Interior Department, Myers stepped down amid a departmental investigation of his allegedly giving illegal favors to a politically connected Wyoming rancher. [1]
Myers, who has never participated in a jury trial, nor been a judge at any level, was rated "not qualified" by over one-third of the American Bar Association's standing committee on the federal judiciary. Not one member gave him a "well qualified" rating. [2] Myers is opposed by an unprecedented coalition of some 180 tribal leaders, conservation groups, labor and civil rights organizations. For the first time in its 68-year history, the conservative National Wildlife Federation chose to oppose a president's judicial nominee.
The reasons for such intense opposition are not hard to find. Myers has argued in court that the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act are unconstitutional, and that there is no constitutional basis for the U.S. government to protect wetlands. He has compared management of the public's federal lands to "the tyrannical actions of King George in levying taxes" on the American colonies. [3]
In one of his two formal opinions as solicitor at Interior, Myers argued that the Bureau of Land Management does not have the authority to prevent undue degradation of public lands resulting from mining operations.
Tex Hall, chairman of the National Congress of American Indians, wrote last March in the Billings (Montana) Gazette that Myers "orchestrated a rollback of protections for sacred native sites on public lands, although such places have been central to the free exercise of religion for many American Indians for centuries." [4] This was a case in which Myers interpreted a federal statute to favor the mining industry at the expense of Native Americans, despite specific Congressional language to prevent undue damage to public land.
Newspaper editorials in the western states covered by the Ninth Circuit have been less than enthusiastic. Myers' hometown [Boise] Idaho Statesman said Myers "sounds less like an attorney and more like an apologist for his old friends in the cattle industry." [5]
In an editorial entitled "Unfit to Judge," Tucson's Arizona Daily Star asserted that "Myers' chief qualification for the job rests not in his legal acumen but in the fact that his anti-environmental views match those of the president." The Star went on to describe Myers as "a person who sees no connection between environmental policy and the health of the nation's natural resources." [6]
The San Francisco Chronicle was more blunt: "One of President Bush's worst nominations" with a "long record of ideological extremism" and "open hostility to environmental protection." [7]
When a Myers article warning that "environmentalists...are bent on stopping human activity whenever it may promote health, safety, and welfare" was noted in his Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY) reminded Myers that "the cases you were discussing" involved logging on national forests, racial discrimination in the siting of waste treatment plants, and protection of irrigation canals from toxic chemicals." [8]
The Idaho Statesman may have caught the spirit of President Bush's choice best when it quoted John Falen, former president of the Nevada Cattlemen's Association: "Bill's our friend," said Falen. "It's been a long time since we had a friend in the solicitor's office." [9]
TAKE ACTION
Ask your Senators to oppose William Myers' lifetime nomination by calling your Senators' offices (Capitol 202/ 224-3121) today. To quickly look up and contact your elected officials, go to Congress.org and enter your zipcode.
SOURCES:
[1] Hartford Advocates, Oct. 16, 2003.
[2] Boston Globe, Mar. 22, 2004.
[3] San Jose Mercury News, Mar. 25, 2004.
[4] Billings Gazette, Mar. 7, 2004.
[5] Idaho Statesman, Nov. 22, 2004.
[6] Arizona Daily Star, Mar. 23, 2004.
[7] San Francisco Chronicle, Mar. 24, 2004.
[8] Ibid.
[9] Idaho Statesman, Nov. 22, 2004.
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