Please, God, May They Vote No

~ Ann Policelli Cronin ~ 1 Comment

Please, God, let there be wisdom.

Let there not be a Justice on the Supreme Court who lied under oath to get there.

Let there not be a Justice on the Supreme Court who more than 2400 law professors say is unfit.

Let there not be a Justice on the Supreme Court who the American Bar Association, the voice of the nation’s lawyers, say is unfit.

Let there not be a Justice on the Supreme Court who former Supreme Court Justice Stevens says is unfit.

Let there not be a Justice on the Supreme Court who millions of Americans witnessed lying under oath.

Let there not be a Justice on the Supreme Court who millions of Americans witnessed disrespecting our government by mocking Senators and not answering their questions but purposefully veering off topic and running out the clock.

Let there not be a Justice on the Supreme Court so full of partisan vitriol that his decisions would not be respected by the American people.

You see, God, what is at stake here is not whether we have a conservative or a liberal Justice. What is at stake here is: Will we survive as a nation?

There must be integrity in the three branches of government for our democracy to keep going. In front of us now is the integrity of the one of those branches: The Supreme Court of the United States of America.

Please, God, let Senators have the wisdom to vote NO on the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh.

FBI Charged With Investigating The Wrong Thing

~ Ann Policelli Cronin ~ Leave a comment

The FBI has been charged by the White House with investigating the wrong thing. The agency should not be investigating if Brett Kavanaugh assaulted Chrsitine Blasey Ford but rather if Brett Kavanaugh lied under oath to Congress. Going into the FBI investigation, it was clear that we already knew all that would be told about the charge of that assault. What needs to be investigated is if someone who wants very much to be on the Supreme Court of the United States evades the truth and lies.

The FBI was told by the White House to not interview Christine Blasey Ford because to interview her would require also interviewing Brett Kavanaugh. The FBI investigators , much more skilled in questioning than the Senators who questioned Brett Kavanaugh, would have found evidence that his answers were not verifiable.

An article in Current Affairs goes through Brett Kavanaugh’s testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee on September 27, 2018 and illustrates the specifics of how Brett Kavanaugh cleverly avoided answering questions and perjured himself.  It is a long read but worth your time when you consider the importance of this lifetime appointment. Having justices on the Supreme Court who respect the truth is essential to the functioning of our democracy.

I am going to send this article to my Senators and urge them to highlight its content as they discuss the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh with the media in hopes that telling the truth under oath becomes what the public insists upon.

Will you do the same?

Requirement For The Job Of Supreme Court Justice: Truth-Telling

~ Ann Policelli Cronin ~ Leave a comment

In order for any court of law to function, there has to be the belief that taking an oath to tell the truth means that the truth is being spoken. Those taking the oath must believe that. The jury must believe that. The judge must believe that.

That belief is so important that we must not knowingly put a judge on any court who does not respect that taking an oath to tell the truth means telling the truth. Brett Kavanaugh has not told the truth under oath. For that reason alone, he should not sit on the Supreme Court of the United States

The September 28th editorial in The Boston Globe lists the times that Brett Kavanaugh has not told the truth to the Senate Judiciary Committee:

• In 2004, Kavanaugh said he was not involved in the handling of the controversial nomination of federal Judge William Pryor. That was a lie. E-mails later showed that he was involved.

• Kavanaugh was asked if he was involved with a scheme to steal Democratic staff e-mails related to judicial confirmations. He lied about it. E-mails showed that he was involved.

• In 2006, Kavanaugh was asked if he was involved in the controversial nomination of federal Judge Charles Pickering. He lied about that too and said he was not.

• In 2006, Kavanaugh was asked about his role in the nomination of William Haynes, the Pentagon general counsel involved in creating the Bush administration’s interrogation policies. He lied about that.

Then, on Thursday, under oath and with the nation watching, he made statements so preposterous that senators should view them as an insult to their intelligence.

• He said the term “devil’s triangle” in his yearbook entry referred to a drinking game. Google it. It doesn’t.

• He said the word “boof” referred to flatulence. Again, no.

• Then there was his assertion that his yearbook description of himself as a “Renate Alumnius” was meant only to signify his friendship with Renate Dolphin, a woman who attended another school and socialized with Kavanaugh. Other football players were described as “Renate Alumni.” We know what they intended to insinuate. You know what they meant to insinuate. Everyone knows. Senators may never be able to establish with forensic certainty that Kavanaugh’s entry was intended as a sexual boast, but they’re allowed to use common sense.

In addition to these examples, it has been verified on October 1, 2018 that Brett Kavanaugh lied about when he first learned of the accusation against him by Debbie Ramirez, a Yale classmate. He said under oath to the Judiciary Committee that he first learned of that accusation when it was reported in The New Yorker. Emails between Brett Kavanaugh and other Yale classmates show that he knew about the accusation and discussed it with others before the publishing of The New Yorker piece.

The Boston Globe concludes:

Put aside that allegation (by Christine Blasey Ford) for a moment, serious as it is. Forget about the FBI inquiry. You can believe that a Supreme Court nominee’s conduct in high school doesn’t matter anyway. You can believe that crass material in a yearbook shouldn’t be held against him as an adult. You can even believe that maybe he genuinely doesn’t remember the assault, which Ford says happened when he was very drunk.

Those are all separate questions from whether he’s been honest.

Unfortunately, the only way for senators to convince themselves that Kavanaugh hasn’t already been shown to be a habitual liar is to lie to themselves.

Civics 101: Public Trust Will Be Lost If A Perjurer Is On The Supreme Court

~ Ann Policelli Cronin ~ Leave a comment

The White House announced that only four people, none of them former classmates who have contradicted Brett Kavanaugh’s testimony,  will be interviewed by the FBI. In addition to the four people whom the White House named, the following individuals must be interviewed in ascertain if Brett Kavanaugh perjured himself when he testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee on September 27, 2018:

  1.  Elizabeth Swisher, classmate of Brett Kavanaugh at Yale
  2. Lynne Brookes, classmate of Brett Kavanaugh at Yale
  3. Daniel Lavan, classmate of Brett Kavanaugh at Yale
  4. Sean Hagan, classmate at Georgetown Prep
  5.  Renate Dolphin, public school student when Brett Kavanaugh was at Georgetown Prep
  6. Bill Barbot, alumnus of Georgetown Prep
  7. William Fishburne, classmate of Brett Kavanaugh at Georgetown Prep who managed the football team
  8. Alumnae of Holton-Arms School during the years that Brett Kavanaugh was at Georgetown Prep to check his statement under oath that Georgetown Prep students did not socialize with girls from Holton-Arms.

All of these individuals have come forward to tell what they know. The FBI should begin its investigation with them. The FBI can ask them if it is true what Brett Kavanaugh said about his drinking habits and true about the terms that Brett Kavanaugh said refer to indigestion and drinking games but his contemporaries say refer to sexual conquests. The FBI can find out if Brett Kavanaugh was telling the truth to the Judiciary Committee and to all of us in the country who were watching.

Some say that what happens in high school and college doesn’t matter. I disagree. But no one says that perjury doesn’t matter. And no one says that lying in a job interview doesn’t matter. And no one says that the integrity of the Supreme Court doesn’t matter.

There is plenty to investigate by the FBI about Brett Kavanaugh’s  truth-telling or perjury in more recent years.  Manuel Miranda, a Republican aide working with Brett Kavanaugh at the White House when files were stolen from the Democrats, could be questioned. Those who worked with Brett Kavanaugh when he was clerking for the disgraced Judge Kozinski could be questioned to see if Brett Kavanaugh did or did not know of Judge Kozinski’s activities with pornography that caused him to be removed from the bench. Brett Kavanaugh’s emails about judicial appointments while he was in the White House Council’s Office could be examined to see if they support his statements made under oath.

What needs to be determined by the FBI is if Brett Kavanaugh lied under oath.  Events can be lost to memory due to alcohol or due to those events not being anything unusual to the person being questioned. But perjury could be right before our eyes, right on national TV.

Demand of your Senators and demand of the White House that the FBI investigation be complete. Demand that the FBI investigation begin with the individuals listed above.

Determining if Brett Kavanaugh told the truth or perjured himself is essential for the integrity of the Supreme Court.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Right Now Act

~ Ann Policelli Cronin ~ Leave a comment

The American Bar Association late Thursday wrote to the Senate Judiciary Committee imploring the committee to not vote on the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh until there is an FBI investigation.

America, the prestigious Catholic magazine which is the voice of American Jesuits, yesterday withdrew its endorsement of Brett Kavanaugh for Supreme Court Justice.

The Judiciary Committee must listen to the religious order that educated Brett Kavanaugh and the professional accrediting body which certifies who can practice law in this country and recommends those who are worthy of judgeships.

Please call your senator early this morning, urging him or her to heed what the ABA and the Jesuits are saying. Call your friends in other states and ask them to do the same. The future of our democracy depends on having Supreme Court Justices in whom we have trust because they have unquestioned integrity and a Senate that delivers on its Constitutional responsibility.

Is The Answer Racism?

~ Ann Policelli Cronin ~ Leave a comment

Is it because the children are brown that we can, somehow, live with the fact that our government is responsible for 559 children being without their parents, responsible for 559 children without any sense of security?

is it because the 46 parentless children under five years old are not white that we go about our daily lives and don’t knock down the doors of all our elected officials and demand that those little ones be immediately, before sundown, reunited with their families?

I’m just asking.

The Count: 559 Children Without Families

~ Ann Policelli Cronin ~ 1 Comment

Today, there are still 559 children whom the U.S. has forcefully separated from their parents, The U.S. governments also has deported the parents of 386 of these children.

What will become of these traumatized children?

No one knows.

What can we do?

1, Support the ACLU as it fights in court for the rights of these children who came here with their parents seeking asylum.

2. Speak up about the injustice our government is doing to these children in our name.

3. Vote out politicians who side with the man (Donald Trump) responsible for children awake at night, staring into the dark and having no idea where their parents are and no explanation for all that is familiar to them going away.

If The Government Was Successful, Why Are Children Still In Cages?

~ Ann Policelli Cronin ~ Leave a comment

July 26th was the date that the U.S. government, our government, was under court order to return to their parents the 2551 children it had taken from their parents. The government declared itself a success. But it was not.

Currently, 757 children are still being held without their parents, held in our name by our government. Forty-six of those children are under the age of 5.

Here is my prayer for those children, for their parents, and for all of us:

FOR THE CHILDREN

Teresa of Avila, a Christian mystic, prayed, “Hover over me, O God.”

Today we pray the same: Hover over us, O God.

Hover, O God, over the 46 children under five years old whose parents have been taken from them and who do not know where their parents are.

Hover, O God, over the 711 children between the ages of 5-17 whose parents have been taken from them and who do not know where their parents are.

Hover, O God, over the parents who, without knowing English or being able to read and write, have been coerced, against their will, into signing away their children.

Hover, O God, over traumatized little children under five who do not recognize their parents when reunited with them or are in fear that their parents will disappear again.

Hover, O God, over the 463 parents, who have been deported and don’t have access to legal services that would help them to locate their children in this country.

Hover, O God, over the 12 children under five years old whose parents have been deported.

Hover, O God, over the children who will need therapy for their trauma, need to be clothed and fed, and need to be educated as they are raised by U.S. social services.

Hover, O God, over the parents and children who have been reunited in the middle of the night in unfamiliar locations and given ankle bracelets but no legal guidance.

Hover, O God, over our legislators so that they recognize that the long-term solution to this immigration problem is an economic one for Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador and seek to address that root problem.

Hover, O God, over our Justice Department so that it updates antiquated criteria for humanitarian admission to our country and the antiquated definition of a refugee.

Hover, O God, over us whose hearts are breaking for these children and who are joining with others to find ways to tear down the walls of prejudice and indifference and to live out America’s promise of being a City on the Hill, a place of compassionate refuge.

 

Most Of All: A Prayer For The Children

~ Ann Policelli Cronin ~ 1 Comment

I was asked to speak at an interfaith prayer service on July 26th. A court order demanded that all 2551 children separated from their parents at the border be reunited with them by that date. It did not happen. At 6:00 PM on July 26th, the prayers were led by seven different speakers. The speakers were Jews, Muslims, and Christians. This was my prayer:

FOR THE CHILDREN

Teresa of Avila, a Christian mystic, prayed, “Hover over me, O God.

Tonight we pray the same: Hover over us, O God.

Hover, O God, over the 45 children under five years old who do not know where their parents are.

Hover, O God, over approximately 1,000 children between the ages of 5-17 who still do not know where their parents are.

Hover, O God, over the parents as they, without the English language or the ability to read and write, have been coerced into signing away their children.

Hover, O God, over those traumatized little children of two and three who do not recognize their parents when reunited with them.

Hover, O God, over the approximately 463 parents, who have been deported and do not have access to legal services that would help them to locate their children in this country.

Hover, O God, over the 12 little children under five years old whose parents have been deported.

Hover, O God, over the children who will need therapy for their trauma of abandonment, need to be clothed and fed, and need to be educated as they are raised by U.S. social services.

Hover, O God, over the parents and children who are reunited in the dark of the night in unfamiliar locations and given ankle bracelets but no help or legal guidance.

Hover, O God, over our legislators so that they recognize that the long-term solution to this immigration problem is an economic one for Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador and seek to address that root problem.

Hover, O God, over our Justice Department so that it updates the antiquated criteria for humanitarian admission to our country and the antiquated definition of a refugee.

Hover, O God, over us whose hearts are breaking for these children and are here tonight to join with others in finding ways to tear down the walls of prejudice and indifference and to live out America’s promise of being the City on the Hill, the place of compassionate refuge.

The Count on July 17, 2018: 2,940 Children

~ Ann Policelli Cronin ~ Leave a comment

A federal judge in Connecticut ruled that it is unconstitutional to separate minors from their families. Therefore, the two children sent to Connecticut from the U.S.-Mexico border were reunited with their parents on July 16, 2018. That leaves 2,940 children still  forcibly removed from their parents by the U.S. government.

The two children reunited with their parents are a 9 year-old Honduran boy and a 14 year old girl from El Salvador. Both children witnessed murders of family members by gangs in their countries of origin and escaped on foot with one of their parents. At the U.S. border, their parents were surreptitiously taken away from the children without any explanation to the children. The children were then transported to Connecticut.

There are three take-aways and two remaining questions:

  1. We, as U.S. citizens, owe a deep debt of gratitude to the Connecticut Legal Services and the Worker and Immigrant Rights Clinic at Yale Law School for taking this case and arguing it effectively. They did so in our name.

2.  We are a country of laws.

3. The judiciary branch of our government still functions.

4. How will our federal government remedy the very real trauma that it caused these two children?

5. How will the federal government reunite the 2, 940 other children with their parents and heal the trauma it has caused those children?