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U.S.
Senator Member of the Agriculture, Energy and Veterans Affairs
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For Immediate
Release July 19, 2005 |
CONTACT: Cody Wertz – Press Secretary 202-228-3630 Jen Clanahan – Deputy Press Secretary 303-455-7600 |
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| SEN. SALAZAR: “PRESIDENT MISSED OPPORTUNITY BY NOT NOMINATING WOMAN TO SUPREME COURT” WASHINGTON, D.C. – United States Senator Ken Salazar released the following letter expressing disappointment in the President’s decision not to nominate a woman to the Supeme Court to fill retiring Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. Senator Salazar also sent the letter to Senators Arlen Specter (R-PA) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT). The letter Senator Salazar sent is included below. July 20, 2005 Dear President Bush: I do not know yet how I will vote on the confirmation of Judge John G. Roberts Jr. I will honor the processes of the Senate in considering his nomination. The fact you have not selected a distinguished woman in the mold of Justice Sandra Day O’Connor is not a reason for disqualification. However, I want to express my disappointment that you have missed an opportunity to help create an America that includes women at all levels of our nation’s government. If your nominee to the United States Supreme Court is confirmed, the face of the United States Supreme Court, with nine justices, will have only one woman. And in an America that has struggled over her history to include women, I do not believe this is a healthy portrayal of the kind of America we should be building. Twenty-four years ago, President Ronald Reagan appointed Sandra Day O’Connor as the first woman justice of the United States Supreme Court. She served in that role with distinction. Justice O’Connor’s appointment created a milestone in history that was the culmination of the work and struggles of men and women over centuries to ensure that women received fair and equal treatment in America. As we all well know, women were not granted even the right to vote in America until the ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920. You and I both have two daughters. The profound message we should be giving to them is that their gender creates no limitations for them to live up to their God-given potential. Yet, I fear that with the loss of Justice Sandra Day O’Connor from the United States Supreme Court, we are sending the opposite message. Respectfully,
Ken Salazar
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