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* Who Is Jeffrey Sutton

Stop Sutton!

To President George W. Bush, Senator Orrin Hatch, Senator Patrick Leahy, and members of the U.S. Senate:

WHEREAS
President George W. Bush has declared that: "Every day our nation was segregated was a day that America was unfaithful to our founding ideals. And the founding ideals of our nation and, in fact, the founding ideals of the political party I represent was, and remains today, the equal dignity and equal rights of every American";

WHEREAS
Numerous editorials have called for a reassessment of President Bush's judicial nominees, including the New York Times editorial of December 22, 2002 which stated: "It seems clearer than ever that the White House and the Senate should conduct a more rigorous review of current and future judicial nominees' records"..."and disqualify any whose commitment to equal rights is at all in doubt;"

WHEREAS
People with disabilities are fully deserving of the federal civil rights protections included in Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), and the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA);

WHEREAS
Jeffrey Sutton, nominated last year to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, has been a leader in the effort to limit congressional power to enact laws protecting civil rights. Sutton has prevailed in a series of 5-4 cases before the Supreme Court that have curtailed civil rights, including the Board of Trustees of Alabama v. Garrett, which successfully challenged the constitutionality of applying the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 to states as employers. (Sutton argued that the protections of the ADA were "not needed" to remedy discrimination by states against people with disabilities. This decision prevents persons with disabilities from collecting monetary damages from state employers. Most significantly, it has resulted in fewer attorneys being willing to represent individuals in ADA cases against state employers.);

WHEREAS
Sutton filed a brief representing the state of Georgia before the Supreme Court in Olmstead v. L.C. arguing that unnecessarily keeping people with disabilities in institutions was not discrimination. (Ruling against the segregation and unnecessary institutionalization of people with disabilities, the Supreme Court reversed in a groundbreaking decision supporting desegregation.)

WHEREAS
Sutton has successfully argued against civil rights in Sandoval v. Alabama (holding that there is no private right of action under Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act's disparate impact regulations); and United States v. Morrison (holding that the civil remedy provisions of the Violence Against Women Act was beyond Congress's power to enact).

AND WHEREAS
Sutton has not just acted as an advocate for his clients, but has admitted that he is often "on the lookout" for cases that support his hostility towards Federal civil rights protections and has strongly advocated going far beyond the Court's 5-4 majority in restricting Congress's power to protect civil rights;

THEREFORE, BE IT KNOWN
The undersigned joins hundreds of disability and civil rights organizations in opposing the confirmation of Jeffrey Sutton to the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals and respectfully requests that the U.S. Senate vote against his confirmation. The undersigned further requests that President Bush select judicial nominees supportive of disability and civil rights.

Sincerely,

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