Brownback drops hold on gay-friendly judge nominee.U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), a backer of the Religious Right agenda, has relented in his quest to block a judicial nominee who attended a same-sex union ceremony. Late last year, Brownback announced that when the new Senate convened in January, he would not continue to hold up a vote in the Senate Judiciary Committee The U.S. Senate established the Committee on the Judiciary on December 10, 1816, as one of the original 11 standing committees. It is also one of the most powerful committees in Congress; among its wide range of jurisdictions is investigation of federal judicial nominees and oversight of on Michigan State Judge Janet Neff. Brownback blocked Neff's nomination for a U.S. District Court seat last year because he discovered that in 2002 the judge attended and gave a homily homily (hŏm`əlē), type of oral religious instruction delivered to a church congregation. In the patristic period through the Middle Ages the focus of the homily was on the explanation and application of texts read or sung during the at a ceremony celebrating the union of a same-sex couple. One of the women in the ceremony was the daughter of a family that lived next door to Neff for more than two decades. During the closing days of the session, Brownback said he would remove his block if Neff would agree to recuse To disqualify or remove oneself as a judge over a particular proceeding because of one's conflict of interest. Recusal, or the judge's act of disqualifying himself or herself from presiding over a proceeding, is based on the Maxim herself from cases involving the issue of same-sex marriage. Brownback's proposal was quickly criticized by legal scholars as constitutionally suspect. Charles Fried, a Harvard Law School Harvard Law School (colloquially, Harvard Law or HLS) is one of the professional graduate schools of Harvard University. Located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Harvard Law is considered one of the most prestigious law schools in the United States. professor, whom the Times described as a "leading conservative scholar," criticized Brownback's actions. "For her to agree to any such restriction in this would be wrong" Fried said. On Dec. 19, The New York Times reported that Brownback said Neff's involvement in the ceremony still troubles him and warrants further investigation, but that he would no longer stymie sty·mie also sty·my tr.v. sty·mied , sty·mie·ing also sty·my·ing , sty·mies To thwart; stump: a problem in thermodynamics that stymied half the class. n. 1. a vote on the nomination. |
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