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SIERRA CLUB OPPOSES WILLIAM MYERS'S NOMINATION TO THE NINTH CIRCUIT Washington, DC-The Sierra Club joined with a broad coalition including the National Congress of American Indians, the Alliance for Justice, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, and other environmental groups to support a fair and balanced court system that will protect the rights and safety of all Americans. Expressing concern about his anti-environmental record, the Sierra Club has announced its opposition to William Myers, President Bush's latest nominee to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. "The Bush administration is pushing lifetime appointments for judges who are out of step with most Americans, threatening to unravel environmental protections. William Myers is the most extreme example," said David Bookbinder, Sierra Club's Washington Legal Director. "Myers's anti-environmental views and avowed hostility to environmental protections make him unfit to serve on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, a court that handles an exceptionally large number of environmental cases." President Bush has nominated many judges who, like Myers, have records of siding with large corporations over citizen rights, limiting citizen access to the courts, and opposing environmental health and safety protections. Myers's has a well documented record of hostility towards laws protecting the environment. That hostility calls into serious question Myers's ability to rule fairly and without bias. Myers has argued that the Endangered Species Act regulations are unconstitutional and he has opposed the protection of valuable wetlands under the Clean Water Act, one of our nation's preeminent environmental laws. Myers's public statements confirm his antagonism towards Congressional efforts to protect endangered species and wild places. In testifying before Congress, he compared a Yellowstone wolf's ventures onto private property to the British demand that Colonists "quarter" English soldiers. Myers has compared the government's management of public lands to King George's "tyrannical" rule over the American colonies Myers has few of the qualifications usually found in federal appellate judges. He has minimal litigation experience at any level and lacks a record of scholarly legal writings. More than one-third of his American Bar Association review panel deemed him "unqualified" for this post, while the remaining members of the panel gave him a tepid, "qualified" rating. None deemed him "well-qualified" for this position. "William Myers is the wrong choice for the Ninth Circuit," concluded Bookbinder. "The courts may be the last hope we have to halt the Administration's assault on the environment. Senators should stand up to President Bush's attempts to fill our top courts with anti-environmental lifetime judges." |
