House Democrats are urging President Obama not to renominate a controversial Georgia judge for a federal post in the next Congress.
In a Dec. 18 letter to the president, the lawmakers say Georgia Court of Appeals Judge Michael Boggs’s track record on civil and reproductive rights makes him unfit to sit on the federal bench.
{mosads}”Judge Boggs’s record as a state legislator, political actions as a state judge, and lack of transparency with the U.S. Senate proves that his nomination is not worthy of further consideration,” Georgia Reps. Hank Johnson (D) and David Scott (D) wrote.
As part of a package deal cut with Georgia GOP Sens. Saxby Chambliss and Johnny Isakson, Obama last year tapped Boggs for a promotion to the U.S. District Court in Atlanta. The move prompted an immediate outcry from many Democrats — notably the members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) — who launched a campaign to sink the nomination in the Senate.
The critics singled out votes Boggs took as a state legislator between 2000 and 2004 related to gay rights, civil liberties and women’s reproductive health.
Among his most controversial positions, Boggs championed an amendment to the state constitution banning gay marriage; voted to require Georgia doctors to post online the number of abortion services they performed over the last decade; and twice backed legislation to keep the Confederate battle emblem a prominent part of Georgia’s state flag — a move to preserve “one of the most vicious symbols of hate and white supremacy” in the country’s history, Scott charged earlier this year.
The CBC’s campaign worked.
At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing in May, a number of Democratic senators teed off on Boggs over those votes. While the other Georgia nominees were all later approved, the Senate opposition to Boggs led Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) to scrap any plan to stage a vote on his nomination, which will expire at the end of the 113th Congress.
But with the GOP set to take control of the Senate next year, CBC leaders are wary that the Republicans will have the support to push Boggs through.
With that in mind, Johnson and Scott — both members of the CBC — are pushing Obama not to allow Republicans that chance.
“The risk that his extreme personal political leanings could impact his ability to rule fairly and impartially on the bench is too high,” the Democrats wrote Thursday.
“There are many fine attorneys and judges in Georgia whose background and record demonstrate a commitment to equal justice under the law.”