A Sacramento Bee article today discusses which person -- the public speaker or the judge -- is the "real Janice Rogers Brown." Apparently some fear that she may have a strong Libertarian bent. One can only hope. It wasn't always the case.
She said in a Bee interview she was "almost a Maoist" in college but came to see certain leftist views as "crazy." The political shift accelerated during a series of state legal jobs -- the final one as legal affairs secretary to Gov. Pete Wilson.Much is also made of her choice of words in both opinions and speechs -- Brown tends to use phrases designed to rattle rather than soothe. She does not seem to be an avid seeker of compromise. In short, she has standards and ideals. The CA Chief Justice is bothered by this, but
Several current and former colleagues said her dissents have been appropriately designed to draw attention to her ideas and reflect no personal animosity.It seems, though, that Brown's real offense was not issuing a strident defense of affirmative action in the Prop 209 case. Instead she called affirmative action to be impermissable discrimination and wrote the scathing majority opinion (with concurring opinions by all the court) that sustained the people's vote against affirmative action.
"Let's be honest," said Arthur Scotland, presiding justice of the Court of Appeal in Sacramento, "Janice Rogers Brown is being opposed by some not on the basis of her qualifications, but because they perceive the strength of her intellect and the quality of her character as a threat to the implementation of their political views.[hat tip: How Appealing] Posted by Kevin Murphy at November 2, 2003 08:36 AM | TrackBack
"It is a sad day in America when such a brilliant and humble person as Janice Rogers Brown is vilified for political purposes."