Damien Schiff

<p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="">=</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="">pow scotus clean water pac leg</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="">=</font></p><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/3669504-supreme-court-to-hear-case-that-could-have-massive-impact-on-us-water-quality/">https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/3669504-supreme-court-to-hear-case-that-could-have-massive-impact-on-us-water-quality/</a></font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" /><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">no lnx</font></div><div><b>Supreme Court on Monday will hear arguments of a case between Idaho landowners and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), a dispute that could redefine the scope of the country’s clean water regulations.  </b></div><div><b>
</b></div><div><b>The first case of the justices’ new term, landing just ahead of the Clean Water Act’s 50th anniversary, will feature arguments about wetlands and when they can or cannot be regulated by the federal government. </b> </div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Although technical in nature, the legal dispute could have broad implications for the country’s water quality if the 6-3 conservative majority court uses the case to narrow the EPA’s regulatory reach.  </span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“If that’s what the Supreme Court should decide, we’re basically rolling back the clock 50 years,” said Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.), who chairs a House panel on water resources and the environment. “That would remove 50 percent of our critical wetlands, and 70 percent of our rivers and streams from federal protection.” </span></div><div>
</div><div>The case began in 2007 when Michael and Chantell Sackett were told they needed a federal permit to build a home on land they owned because it contained wetlands, prompting the Sacketts to sue.  </div><div>
</div><div>A federal court, siding with the U.S. government, ruled that the wetlands on the Sacketts’ property contained a “significant nexus” with other regulated waters, meaning the couple would need authorization to build there.  </div><div>
</div><div><b>The Sacketts are now urging the Supreme Court to discard the “significant nexus” threshold. Instead, their petition favors a separate test from former Justice Antonin Scalia that called for the waters to have a “continuous surface water connection” — a higher threshold that would apply to fewer wetlands. </b></div><div>
</div><div>The stakes of this case, however, go far beyond one property dispute. It attracted briefs from environmental groups, which argue that it would hamper the government’s ability to keep people safe from pollution, as well as industries like farming, mining, construction and oil and gas, which support the deregulatory effort.  </div><div>
</div><div>“This is a very, very, big deal for the Clean Water Act. It will determine, likely, whether the Clean Water Act can protect half of the water bodies in the country, and if it can’t, meeting the water quality goals of the law that we all count on will be virtually impossible,” said Jon Devine, who leads the <b>Natural Resources Defense Council</b>’s federal water policy team. </div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The case appears to mirror regulatory differences between the Trump administration’s efforts to limit regulations to just wetlands with continuous surface water connections to other regulated waters, and the Obama administration’s regulations, which applied the significant nexus test.  </span></div><div>
</div><div><b>A total of 51 percent of the country’s wetlands would not be protected under the Trump-era rule, according to a slideshow obtained by E&E News. </b></div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">The Biden administration has proposed to regulate some wetlands that meet the significant nexus standard.  </span></div><div>
</div><div>And while the Sacketts’ petition to the court appears to be in support of the continuous surface water test, in their opening court brief, they propose a separate test. </div><div>
</div><div>They say that a wetland should be “inseparably bound up” with another regulated water and also subject to Congress’s authority over interstate waters.  </div><div>
</div><div><b>Damien Schiff, a lawyer representing the Sacketts said that abiding by the Clean Water Act can be significantly burdensome, both in the application process itself and in the requirements to mitigate environmental damage.  </b></div><div>
</div><div>“Whenever the Clean Water Act applies, it does add a significant financial burden, not just because there is a lot of costs involved in the application process … but also just simply the cost of compensatory mitigation,” said <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">Schiff, a senior attorney at the Pacific Legal Foundation. </span> </div><div>
</div><div>He said that the Army Corps of Engineers “might very well issue a permit, but typically not only is the permit issued for a much smaller project than was originally requested but it’s always accompanied by a pretty significant compensatory mitigation obligation and that can run into the hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars.” </div><div>
</div><div>A looser test would be expected to apply to fewer wetlands, allowing individuals and corporations to act there without EPA oversight.  </div><div>
</div><div><b>Under the current system, many polluters are also not necessarily blocked from carrying out activities in regulated waters.  </b></div><div>
</div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Instead, they may need to either apply for a permit that contains stipulations that they follow environmental safeguards, or follow existing stipulations in a “general permit” that gives a blanket waiver to certain activities.  </span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">
</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">But environmentalists say that while pollution still occurs when permits are in place, the stipulations they offer are important for averting the worst damages.  </span></div><div>
</div><div>“This case is not about prohibiting construction or development, it’s about what safeguards are in place when someone does so,” Devine said.  </div><div>
</div><div><b>Environmentalists say that this pollution may end up in America’s drinking water and also harm fish that people catch for consumption. And while many public water systems are treated to prevent pollution, some people get their water from private wells, which may not get the same level of treatment.  </b></div><div>
</div><div>“Drinking water does have standards, but that doesn’t mean that all those standards are perfect and the pollution that comes in through those sources means more cost of treatment. It means that people who live on wells or in areas where the water treatment systems aren’t as big or fancy or as expensive are going to suffer,” said Sam Sankar, senior vice president of programs at Earthjustice.  </div><div>
</div><div>Sankar said his organization has 18 tribes as clients, and many of them will face “direct impacts.” </div><div>
</div><div>The court began its work Monday after an epochal term in which the six Republican-appointed justices advanced an aggressive conservative legal agenda.  </div><div>
</div><div>The case will be the first that is heard by Ketanji Brown Jackson in her tenure as a Supreme Court justice.  </div><div>
</div><div>
</div><div>[Supreme Court to hear challenge to Big Tech’s Section 230 liability protections</div><div>
</div><div><b>Although overshadowed by the court’s overruling of Roe v. Wade, last term saw the court vote 6-3 to pare back federal agency power in West Virginia v. EPA, a case that reined in the government’s authority to regulate carbon emissions from power plants. </b></div><div>
</div><div>Court watchers believe the conservative majority court will continue its rightward trajectory this term. </div><div>
</div><div>“There’s no reason to think this coming term, or any term in the foreseeable future, will be any different,” Irv Gornstein, executive director of Georgetown Law’s Supreme Court Institute said recently. “On things that matter most, get ready for a lot of 6-3s.” </div><div>
</div><div>TAGS CLEAN WATER ACT CONSERVATIVE MAJORITY EPA KETANJI BROWN JACKSON ORAL ARGUMENTS PETER DEFAZIO SUPREME COURT US WATER QUALITY US WATERWAYS WETLANDS</div></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">=</font></div><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="">=</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">trump moves fast on fed jud nominees:</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_S.Schwartz" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_S.Schwartz</a>  34 yo</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">damien schiff blogger justice kennedy judicial prostitute</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">sonali 8/18 830 afj.org alliance for justice</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damien_M.Schiff">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damien_M.Schiff</a></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b style="">Damien Michael Schiff</b> (born June 4, 1979) is an American lawyer. Currently a senior attorney at the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Legal_Foundation" title="Pacific Legal Foundation" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Pacific Legal Foundation</a>, he is a former nominee to be a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_federal_judge" title="United States federal judge" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Judge</a> of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Court_of_Federal_Claims" title="United States Court of Federal Claims" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">United States Court of Federal Claims</a>.</font></p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Schiff received his <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bachelor_of_Arts" title="Bachelor of Arts" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Bachelor of Arts</a> degree, magna cum laude, from <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgetown_University" title="Georgetown University" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Georgetown University</a> and his <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juris_Doctor" title="Juris Doctor" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Juris Doctor</a>, magna cum laude, from the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_San_Diego_School_of_Law" title="" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">University of San Diego School of Law</a> in 2004. He started his legal career as a law clerk for Judge <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_J.Wolski" title="" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Victor J. Wolski</a> of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Court_of_Federal_Claims" title="United States Court of Federal Claims" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">United States Court of Federal Claims</a>.</font></p><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">Schiff litigated <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sackett_v.Environmental_Protection_Agency" title="" style="background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency</a>.</span><sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damien_M.Schiff#cite_note-2" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[2]</a></sup><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> In 2014, he litigated to end federal protections for the </span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_gnatcatcher" title="Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency" style="background: none; text-decoration-line: none;">California gnatcatcher</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">, arguing DNA evidence showed it was not a distinct sub-species.</span><sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damien_M.Schiff#cite_note-3" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[3]</a></sup></font></p><h2 style="margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px; overflow: hidden; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); font-weight: normal; font-family: " linux="Linux" libertine="Libertine" georgia="Georgia" times="Times" serif="serif" line-height="line-height"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline" id="Failed_nomination_to_Court_of_Federal_Claims" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Failed</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> nomination to Court of Federal Claims</span></span><span class="mw-editsection" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); user-select: none; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; unicode-bidi: isolate; margin-right: 0px;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-right: 0.25em;">[</span></span></font></h2><p style="margin: 0.5em 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">On May 8, 2017, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Trump" title="Donald Trump" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">President Trump</a> nominated Schiff to serve as a Judge of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Court_of_Federal_Claims" title="United States Court of Federal Claims" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">United States Court of Federal Claims</a>, to the seat vacated by Judge <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_W.Miller(judge)" title="George W. Miller (judge)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">George W. Miller</a>, who retired in 2013.<sup id="cite_ref-4" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damien_M.Schiff#cite_note-4" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[4]</a></sup> A hearing on his nomination before the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senate_Committee_on_the_Judiciary" title="University of San Diego School of Law" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Senate Judiciary Committee</a> took place on June 14, 2017.<sup id="cite_ref-5" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damien_M.Schiff#cite_note-5" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[5]</a></sup> On July 13, 2017, his nomination was reported out of committee by a vote of 11–9.<sup id="cite_ref-6" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damien_M.Schiff#cite_note-6" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[6]</a></sup> On January 3, 2018, his nomination was returned to the President under <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standing_Rules_of_the_United_States_Senate,Rule_XXXI" class="mw-redirect" title="Standing Rules of the United States Senate, Rule XXXI" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Rule XXXI, Paragraph 6</a> of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senate" title="United States Senate" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">United States Senate</a>.<sup id="cite_ref-7" class="reference" style="line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damien_M.Schiff#cite_note-7" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[7]</a></sup> On January 5, 2018, the White House renominated 21 of 26 federal judicial nominees who had been returned by the U.S. Senate. </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">Schiff was not among the 21 individuals who were renominated.</span><sup id="cite_ref-8" class="reference" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); line-height: 1; unicode-bidi: isolate; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damien_M.Schiff#cite_note-8" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">[8]</a></sup></font></p><h2 style="margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; padding: 0px; overflow: hidden; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(162, 169, 177); font-weight: normal; font-family: " linux="Linux" libertine="Libertine" georgia="Georgia" times="Times" serif="serif" line-height="line-height" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span class="mw-headline" id="See_also">See also</span><span class="mw-editsection" style="user-select: none; margin-left: 1em; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 1em; unicode-bidi: isolate; margin-right: 0px;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="margin-right: 0.25em;">[</span></span></font></h2><ul style="list-style-image: url(" w="w" skins="skins" vector="Vector" resources="resources" common="common" images="images" bullet-icon.svg="bullet-icon.svg" d4515="d4515" margin="margin" em="em" px="px" padding="padding" color="color" rgb="rgb" font-size="font-size" background-color="background-color"><li style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Trump_judicial_appointment_controversies" title="Donald Trump judicial appointment controversies" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">Donald Trump judicial appointment controversies</font></a></li></ul><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">=</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://civilrights.org/resource/oppose-confirmation-damien-m-schiff-u-s-court-federal-claims/">https://civilrights.org/resource/oppose-confirmation-damien-m-schiff-u-s-court-federal-claims/</a></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; letter-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="http://civilrightsdocs.info/pdf/policy/letters/2017/letter_opposition_damien_schiff_court_federal_claims_8_4_17_FINAL.pdf" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.45s ease 0s;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">View a PDF of this letter here.</font></a></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; letter-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Recipient: U.S. Senate</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; letter-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">On behalf of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, a coalition of more than 200 national organizations committed to promoting and protecting the civil and human rights of all persons in the United States, I am writing in strong opposition to the confirmation of Damien M. Schiff to the U.S. Court of Federal Claims.  The Leadership Conference urges the Senate to reject this nomination.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; letter-spacing: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><b style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">It is difficult to imagine a judicial nominee less deserving of confirmation than Damien Schiff, whose prolific blog posts reflect a strong hostility to civil rights, LGBT rights, women’s rights,</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> environmental protection, campaign finance reform, and judicial precedent.</span></b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> Mr. Schiff’s offensive and intemperate blog posts were written anonymously to hide his identity, but he was required to disclose them to the Senate as part of the nomination process.  His extreme and intolerant views would render him incapable of serving as a neutral arbiter, an inability further reinforced by the fact that Mr. Schiff has devoted his entire legal career to advancing ultra-conservative causes in the courts.</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; letter-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><u style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;">Temperament</u>:  In a 2007 blog posting entitled “Kennedy as the Most Powerful Justice?,” Mr. Schiff wrote the following about Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy: “It would seem that Justice Kennedy is (and please excuse the language) a<b> judicial prostitute, ‘selling’ his vote as it were to four other Justices in exchange for the high that comes from aggrandizement of power and influence, and the blandishments of the fawning media and legal academy.</b>”  He went on to write: “[D]oesn’t Justice Kennedy’s toying or proclivity to concurrence-writing simply reveal a chameleon mind, without mooring in the rule of law or other principles extrinsic to its own fancy?”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; letter-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">At his Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Mr. Schiff showed little remorse for his comments.  Senator Kennedy, who had heard about but apparently not seen Mr. Schiff’s blog post, asked Mr. Schiff if he had, in fact, called Justice Kennedy a “judicial prostitute.”  Mr. Schiff was evasive in his answer: “That was not my intent.  My intent was to compare the style of judging that I believe the particular article that I quoted in that blog post was attributing to Justice Kennedy, to call that style of judging a bad name.”  Mr. Schiff’s response is deceptive and dishonest.  Of course it was Mr. Schiff’s intent to call Justice Kennedy a “judicial prostitute” – that is the exact term he used in his blog post.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; letter-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">And as demonstrated by the direct quotes from Mr. Schiff on a variety of topics below, he has frequently adopted what one could only call an incendiary, deeply disrespectful voice that is not in any way suited for the bench.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; letter-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><u style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;">Equal Opportunity</u>: In a 2011 law review article, Mr. Schiff expressed hostility and extreme views on equal opportunity programs in education.  He wrote: “The sad truth is that the United States has a sordid history when it comes to dealing with issues involving race.  From <em style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;">Dred Scott v.</em> <em style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;">Sandford</em>, to <em style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;">Plessy v. Ferguson</em>, to <em style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;">Korematsu v. United States</em>, the Supreme Court has all too often been at the forefront of this ugly history.  Yet, the Supreme Court has also righted each one of those wrongs. In the <em style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;">Slaughterhouse</em> <em style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;">Cases</em>, the Supreme Court recognized that the Fourteenth Amendment overturned <em style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;">Dred Scott</em> by making all persons born in the United States citizens (and not chattels).  In <em style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;">Brown v. Board of Education</em>, the Supreme Court overturned <em style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;">Plessy</em> by holding that separate is inherently unequal.  And in <em style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;">Adarand Constructors v. Pena</em>, the Supreme Court affirmed that strict scrutiny must be rigorously applied so mistakes like <em style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;">Korematsu</em> do not happen again.  <em style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;">Grutter v. Bollinger</em> should also be recognized as one of the Supreme Court’s mistakes.”<a href="https://civilrights.org/resource/oppose-confirmation-damien-m-schiff-u-s-court-federal-claims/#ftn1" name="ftnref1" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.45s ease 0s;">[1]</a></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; letter-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">By comparing the <em style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;">Grutter</em> decision, which held that diversity was a compelling interest and that universities could use race as a factor in admissions, with the Supreme Court’s most historically and morally flawed decisions – <em style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;">Dred Scott</em>, <em style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;">Plessy</em>, and <em style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;">Korematsu</em> – Mr. Schiff reveals an extreme bias against, and a lack of understanding of, equal opportunity and opposition to the principles of ensuring equal access for all that lie at the core of these important equal opportunity programs.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; letter-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><u style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;">LGBT Rights</u>:  In 2009, Mr. Schiff wrote a piece entitled “Teaching ‘gayness’ in public schools,” where he anonymously railed against the anti-bullying lesson plan of a California school district.  He wrote: “I have not seen the proposed lesson, but from the article, it seems to teach not only that bullying of homosexuals is wrong, <em style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;">but also</em> that the homosexual lifestyle is a good [sic], and that homosexual families are the moral equivalent of traditional heterosexual families.”<a href="https://civilrights.org/resource/oppose-confirmation-damien-m-schiff-u-s-court-federal-claims/#ftn2" name="ftnref2" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.45s ease 0s;">[2]</a>  He went on to state: “Perhaps someone will respond: would you have objected to an anti-racism curriculum being taught in 1950s Arkansas?  I guess my answer there would be a qualified yes, that I would have objected, not that I would approve of racism, but that, as a prudential matter, the best way to get people to drop their racist views would <em style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;">not</em> be to force the teaching of their children.  Until consensus is reached on the moral implications of homosexuality, any attempt on the part of the public schools to take sides on those implications is wrongheaded.  And so, the remedy?  Allow parents to opt out of public schools altogether, and let them keep their taxes.”<a href="https://civilrights.org/resource/oppose-confirmation-damien-m-schiff-u-s-court-federal-claims/#ftn3" name="ftnref3" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.45s ease 0s;">[3]</a></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; letter-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Mr. Schiff has demonstrated a disturbing anti-LGBT bias in other writings as well.  In one post, he stated: “I strongly disagree with the <em style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;">Lawrence</em> [sic] because I can find no historical or precedential basis, pre-1868, for its limitation on the legislative proscription of sodomy.”<a href="https://civilrights.org/resource/oppose-confirmation-damien-m-schiff-u-s-court-federal-claims/#ftn4" name="ftnref4" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.45s ease 0s;">[4]</a>  In another posting, he wrote: “The impetus for the gay rights movement is that we cannot deny to consenting adults the full cultural and legal recognition of the propriety of their sexual fulfillment.”<a href="https://civilrights.org/resource/oppose-confirmation-damien-m-schiff-u-s-court-federal-claims/#ftn5" name="ftnref5" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.45s ease 0s;">[5]</a>  In that same piece, he said that a state court ruling that permitted same-sex couple adoption “underscores my fear that soon the advocacy of traditional sexual morality will be deemed to fall outside the sphere of legitimate secular political debate.”<a href="https://civilrights.org/resource/oppose-confirmation-damien-m-schiff-u-s-court-federal-claims/#ftn6" name="ftnref6" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.45s ease 0s;">[6]</a></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; letter-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b><u style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;">Women’s Rights</u>:  In a 2008 blog posting, Mr. Schiff equated abortion with slavery, arguing that anti-abortion laws can be justified on non-religious grounds, specifically, on natural law.</b> He wrote that “infanticide and slavery can be shown to violate natural law; that is to say, those offenses can be known as such by the rightly formed human conscience, unaided by any divine assistance.  I think the same goes for abortion.”<a href="https://civilrights.org/resource/oppose-confirmation-damien-m-schiff-u-s-court-federal-claims/#ftn7" name="ftnref7" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.45s ease 0s;">[7]</a>  He went on to assert: “I am not saying that people in favor of legalized abortion are morally decrepit (although I would consider their view on this matter to be gravely in error).”<a href="https://civilrights.org/resource/oppose-confirmation-damien-m-schiff-u-s-court-federal-claims/#ftn8" name="ftnref8" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.45s ease 0s;">[8]</a></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; letter-spacing: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In a 2007 posting, Mr. Schiff criticized an article written by a pro-choice advocate because, among other reasons “</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">it presupposes that the unborn person is not a person entitled to any of the protections of the Constitution, including the Due Process (DPC) and Equal Protection Clauses (EPC) of the <b style="">14<sup style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;">th</sup> Amendment</b>.  To avoid that issue is to ignore the 800 lb elephant.”<a href="https://civilrights.org/resource/oppose-confirmation-damien-m-schiff-u-s-court-federal-claims/#ftn9" name="ftnref9" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.45s ease 0s;">[9]</a>  He further rejected the author’s argument because it was “non-<b>originalist.</b></span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">”</span><a href="https://civilrights.org/resource/oppose-confirmation-damien-m-schiff-u-s-court-federal-claims/#ftn10" name="ftnref10" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.45s ease 0s;">[10]</a></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; letter-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Mr. Schiff serves on the board of directors of the Sacramento Life Center, an anti-choice counseling group that refuses to inform its patients about abortion and contraception options.<a href="https://civilrights.org/resource/oppose-confirmation-damien-m-schiff-u-s-court-federal-claims/#ftn11" name="ftnref11" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.45s ease 0s;">[11]</a>  The group was recently found to be out of compliance with a state law requiring that such centers put up signs informing patients about California’s free and low-cost public programs for family planning, prenatal care, and abortion services.<a href="https://civilrights.org/resource/oppose-confirmation-damien-m-schiff-u-s-court-federal-claims/#ftn12" name="ftnref12" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.45s ease 0s;">[12]</a></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; letter-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>In the 2011 case <em style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;">American Sports Council v. Department of Education</em>, Mr. Schiff challenged the application to high schools of Title IX – the key federal civil rights law prohibiting sex discrimination against students and employees in education programs and activities receiving federal financial assistance.</b>  In an interview about the case, Mr. Schiff stated: “Congress had absolutely no evidence before when it enacted Title IX that there was sexual discrimination going on in high schools.  So therefore, they have no constitutional basis to impose those restrictions on high school athletics.”<a href="https://civilrights.org/resource/oppose-confirmation-damien-m-schiff-u-s-court-federal-claims/#ftn13" name="ftnref13" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.45s ease 0s;">[13]</a>  Mr. Schiff’s case was dismissed for lack of standing.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; letter-spacing: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);"><u style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;">Money in Politics</u>:  On behalf of the Pacific Legal Foundation,<b> Mr. Schiff authored an amicus brief in <em style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;">Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission</em> that called for corporations to have the same First Amendment rights as human beings.</b>  <b>He wrote that the “distinction between natural and corporate persons” was unjustified and that “[t]he core political speech protections of the First Amendment should be open to all equally.</b>”<a href="https://civilrights.org/resource/oppose-confirmation-damien-m-schiff-u-s-court-federal-claims/#ftn14" name="ftnref14" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.45s ease 0s;">[14]</a>  He also asked the Supreme Court to reverse longstanding precedents that had upheld sensible campaign finance restrictions.  In a blog posting about the <em style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;">Citizens United</em> case, Mr. Schiff wrote: “<b>PLF’s brief also makes the larger point that corporations provide significant societal goods, and that their speech (which really is nothing more than the combined speech of the natural persons who form the corporation) should be encouraged, not censored</b>.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">”</span><a href="https://civilrights.org/resource/oppose-confirmation-damien-m-schiff-u-s-court-federal-claims/#ftn15" name="ftnref15" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.45s ease 0s;">[15]</a></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; letter-spacing: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><u style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;">Environmental Rights</u>:  Mr. Schiff has expressed contempt for federal environmental laws that protect clean air, clean water, and wildlife.  In a February 2017 article entitled “E<b>nvironmental Law – A Good Place to Start for Trump to Make America Great Again,” he wrote that “the sad reality is that, as a result of environmentalist litigation and agency misrepresentation, these statutes [the Clean Water Act, Clean Air Act, and Endangered Species Act] often are enforced not for the public’s benefit but to stop productive activity that activists or bureaucrats dislike.</b>  Such misuse needlessly increases costly regulatory burdens, creating a <b>crippling drag on the economy</b>.”<a href="https://civilrights.org/resource/oppose-confirmation-damien-m-schiff-u-s-court-federal-claims/#ftn16" name="ftnref16" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.45s ease 0s;">[16]</a>  </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">He also proposed an extreme suggestion for Fifth Amendment takings claims, </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">writing: “To make this key right effective, federal agencies should be required to provide compensation when their <b>environmental regulations substantially reduce the value of one’s property</b>.”</span><a href="https://civilrights.org/resource/oppose-confirmation-damien-m-schiff-u-s-court-federal-claims/#ftn17" name="ftnref17" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.45s ease 0s;">[17]</a></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; letter-spacing: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In 2011, Mr. Schiff was interviewed by <b>Lou Dobbs </b>about a case in which he was representing an Idaho family who had sued the</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);"> Environmental Protection Agency for denying them a permit to build a home because it qualified as a wetland under the Clean Water Act.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">  Mr. Schiff stated: “This is a problem with the agency across the board treating American citizens as if they were not American citizens, as if they were just slaves, and it’s atrocious.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">”</span><a href="https://civilrights.org/resource/oppose-confirmation-damien-m-schiff-u-s-court-federal-claims/#ftn18" name="ftnref18" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.45s ease 0s;">[18]</a></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; letter-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In 2013, Mr. Schiff lambasted the Endangered Species Act in a <b><em style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;">Wall Street Journal</em> op-ed,</b> in which he wrote that “the law has endangered the economic health of many communities – while creating a cottage industry of litigation that does more to enrich environmental activist groups than benefit the environment.  How did things get so turned around?  Blame the bureaucrats of the Endangered Species Act.  They have administered the law poorly and flouted provisions designed to promote good science and good sense.”<a href="https://civilrights.org/resource/oppose-confirmation-damien-m-schiff-u-s-court-federal-claims/#ftn19" name="ftnref19" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.45s ease 0s;">[19]</a>  In an article published in <b>April 2017, on Earth Day, Mr. Schiff continued his campaign against the Endangered Species Act, writing: “Unfortunately, the good intentions of that statute – much like those of Earth Day itself – have been perverted to make it, in too many cases, a threat to individual liberty and property rights</b>.” <a href="https://civilrights.org/resource/oppose-confirmation-damien-m-schiff-u-s-court-federal-claims/#ftn20" name="ftnref20" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.45s ease 0s;">[20]</a></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; letter-spacing: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><u style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;">Property Rights</u>:  Mr. Schiff has brought a number of takings cases during his tenure at the Pacific Legal Foundation.  For example, he sued San Jose, California for passing an<b> affordable housing ordinance</b> in 2010 that required at least 15 percent of new residential development projects to be sold at affordable prices.  Mr. Schiff, on behalf of a building industry association, </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">claimed this law was an </span><b style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 153, 0);">unconstitutional taking</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">.  The California Supreme Court rejected Mr. Schiff’s argument and unanimously upheld the ordinance</span></b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>.</b></span><a href="https://civilrights.org/resource/oppose-confirmation-damien-m-schiff-u-s-court-federal-claims/#ftn21" name="ftnref21" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.45s ease 0s;">[21]</a></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; letter-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In a 2011 appearance on a show called “Libertarian Counterpart,” there was a discussion of how to safeguard Social Security.  The moderator of the show asserted that the federal government owns 40 percent of the country and that “they don’t have to sell it all at once but there’s enough value in that land over the next 30-40 years to basically buy out Social Security.”  Mr. Schiff responded to this comment by saying “good point” and “<b>you could sell Yosemite.”<a href="https://civilrights.org/resource/oppose-confirmation-damien-m-schiff-u-s-court-federal-claims/#ftn22" name="ftnref22" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.45s ease 0s;">[22]</a>  Another panelist then quipped “you could turn it over to Walt Disney,” and Mr. Schiff responded: “Yeah, why not, they’d do a damn better job</b>.”<a href="https://civilrights.org/resource/oppose-confirmation-damien-m-schiff-u-s-court-federal-claims/#ftn23" name="ftnref23" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.45s ease 0s;">[23]</a></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; letter-spacing: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><u style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;">Judicial Activism</u>:  Mr. Schiff views courts as a vehicle to advance an agenda rather than to apply the law. </b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> In a 2008 blog posting, Mr. Schiff discussed comments he had made at a conference on the separation of powers.  He wrote: “I urged that a reinvigorated constitutional jurisprudence, emanating from the judiciary, could well be the catalyst to real reform” and that “</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">the Supreme Court, with just five votes, can overturn precedents upon which many of the unconstitutional excrescences of the New Deal and Great Society eras depend.  </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>A limited ‘substantial effects’ test, a recharged nondelegation doctrine, and a return to economic due process would yield significant benefits, and quickly.</b>”</span><a href="https://civilrights.org/resource/oppose-confirmation-damien-m-schiff-u-s-court-federal-claims/#ftn24" name="ftnref24" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.45s ease 0s;">[24]</a><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);"> Mr. Schiff’s radical vision of the law would take us back to the <em style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;">Lochner</em> era</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> when the Supreme Court struck down minimum wage and labor laws in order to protect corporate interests above all others.  Mr. Schiff’s activist agenda and disrespect for precedent are evident from these comments.</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; letter-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><u style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;">Questions for the Record</u>:  In his written responses to questions submitted after his hearing, it was revealed that the White House likely did not know about Mr. Schiff’s offensive and surreptitious blog posts when he was nominated on May 8.  In responding to written questions from Senator Whitehouse and Senator Franken, Mr. Schiff revealed that he did not remember writing his offensive blog posts until there were press articles about them beginning on May 26.  He wrote: “I did not become aware, however, of any of the controversial posts until May 26, shortly after the first media reports were published. Prior to those articles, I had forgotten about the controversial posts, which I had written nearly a decade ago on a blog that has been defunct for nearly as long.”  Had the Trump White House known about Mr. Schiff’s blog posts prior to nomination, they presumably either would not have nominated him, or they would have raised them with Mr. Schiff and asked him to explain them.  The fact that Mr. Schiff did not recall the “judicial prostitute” and other notorious comments until there were press reports about them on May 26 is a strong indication that the White House did not know about them when they nominated him on May 8.<b>  This lack of proper vetting has plagued the Trump White House from the outset, and it has resulted in the withdrawal of several nominations.</b></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; letter-spacing: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><b style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">In addition,</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> Mr. Schiff’s evasive answers to written questions take committee stonewalling to new heights.</span></b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">  Mr. Schiff refused to answer the vast majority of questions posed to him by committee members.  While it is common for judicial nominees to deflect certain questions that call for personal opinions not previously stated, Mr. Schiff refused to answer questions about personal opinions that he had previously expressed.  For example, in his “teaching gayness” blog post, he wrote: “Until consensus is reached on the moral implications of homosexuality, any attempt on the part of the public schools to take sides on those implications is wrongheaded.”  In response to a written question from Senator Feinstein which asked “What are the ‘moral implications’ of homosexuality,” Mr. Schiff answered: “Please see my response to Question 2.a.,” which, in turn, stated: “To the extent that the question seeks my personal views, I should like to respond, respectfully, that those would not be relevant to my role as a judge.”  In light of the fact that Mr. Schiff is the one who used the term “moral implications of homosexuality” in the first place, he should be expected to answer questions about what he meant by his usage of that term.</span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; letter-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This deceptive and evasive approach that Schiff utilized throughout his written answers – referring to previous responses which lacked any substance, on literally dozens of occasions – is a departure from the way in which past judicial nominees have answered questions about their statements and writings.  Mr. Schiff’s extreme evasiveness and refusal to answer legitimate questions about his past writings demonstrates disrespect for the Senate’s advice-and-consent role in the confirmation process.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; letter-spacing: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><u style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;">Court of Federal Claims Caseload</u>:  Finally, President Obama made five nominations to the Court of Federal Claims in April and May of 2014.  None were confirmed, due to the baseless claims of Senator Cotton that the court’s caseload did not justify any additional judges.  Now that President Trump is making nominations to this court, we will be interested to see whether Senator Cotton will continue to take the same position and object to holding votes on all Court of Federal Claims nominees.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; letter-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">For the foregoing reasons, The Leadership Conference urges you to reject the nomination of Damien Schiff to the Court of Federal Claims.  Thank you for your consideration of our views.  If you have any questions or would like to discuss this matter further, please contact <b>Mike Zubrensky, Chief Counsel and Legal Director</b>, at (202) 466-3311.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; letter-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Sincerely,</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; letter-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Vanita Gupta</b><br style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;" />President & CEO</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; letter-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> </font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; letter-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://civilrights.org/resource/oppose-confirmation-damien-m-schiff-u-s-court-federal-claims/#ftnref1" name="ftn1" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.45s ease 0s;">[1]</a> <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1803475" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.45s ease 0s;">https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1803475</a>.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; letter-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://civilrights.org/resource/oppose-confirmation-damien-m-schiff-u-s-court-federal-claims/#ftnref2" name="ftn2" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.45s ease 0s;">[2]</a> <a href="http://www.afj.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Schiff-SJQ-1487-1488.pdf" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.45s ease 0s;">http://www.afj.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Schiff-SJQ-1487-1488.pdf</a>.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; letter-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://civilrights.org/resource/oppose-confirmation-damien-m-schiff-u-s-court-federal-claims/#ftnref3" name="ftn3" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.45s ease 0s;">[3]</a> Id.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; letter-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://civilrights.org/resource/oppose-confirmation-damien-m-schiff-u-s-court-federal-claims/#ftnref4" name="ftn4" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.45s ease 0s;">[4]</a><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080610122430/http:/omniaomnibus.typepad.com:80/omnia_omnibus/2008/05/index.%20html" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.45s ease 0s;">https://web.archive.org/web/20080610122430/http:/omniaomnibus.typepad.com:80/omnia_omnibus/2008/05/index. html</a>.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; letter-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://civilrights.org/resource/oppose-confirmation-damien-m-schiff-u-s-court-federal-claims/#ftnref5" name="ftn5" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.45s ease 0s;">[5]</a> <a href="http://www.afj.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Schiff-SJQ-Attachments-Final-1503.pdf" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.45s ease 0s;">http://www.afj.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Schiff-SJQ-Attachments-Final-1503.pdf</a>.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; letter-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://civilrights.org/resource/oppose-confirmation-damien-m-schiff-u-s-court-federal-claims/#ftnref6" name="ftn6" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.45s ease 0s;">[6]</a> Id.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; letter-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://civilrights.org/resource/oppose-confirmation-damien-m-schiff-u-s-court-federal-claims/#ftnref7" name="ftn7" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.45s ease 0s;">[7]</a> <a href="http://www.afj.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Schiff-SJQ-1515-1517.pdf" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.45s ease 0s;">http://www.afj.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Schiff-SJQ-1515-1517.pdf</a>.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; letter-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://civilrights.org/resource/oppose-confirmation-damien-m-schiff-u-s-court-federal-claims/#ftnref8" name="ftn8" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.45s ease 0s;">[8]</a> Id.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; letter-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://civilrights.org/resource/oppose-confirmation-damien-m-schiff-u-s-court-federal-claims/#ftnref9" name="ftn9" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.45s ease 0s;">[9]</a><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080610122330/http:/omniaomnibus.typepad.com:80/omnia_omnibus/2007/06/index.html" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.45s ease 0s;">https://web.archive.org/web/20080610122330/http:/omniaomnibus.typepad.com:80/omnia_omnibus/2007/06/index.html</a>.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; letter-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://civilrights.org/resource/oppose-confirmation-damien-m-schiff-u-s-court-federal-claims/#ftnref10" name="ftn10" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.45s ease 0s;">[10]</a> Id.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; letter-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://civilrights.org/resource/oppose-confirmation-damien-m-schiff-u-s-court-federal-claims/#ftnref11" name="ftn11" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.45s ease 0s;">[11]</a> <a href="https://saclife.org/our-services" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.45s ease 0s;">https://saclife.org/our-services</a>.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; letter-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://civilrights.org/resource/oppose-confirmation-damien-m-schiff-u-s-court-federal-claims/#ftnref12" name="ftn12" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.45s ease 0s;">[12]</a> <a href="https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/health-and-medicine/healthy-choices/article66246282.html" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.45s ease 0s;">http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/health-and-medicine/healthy-choices/article66246282.html</a>.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; letter-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://civilrights.org/resource/oppose-confirmation-damien-m-schiff-u-s-court-federal-claims/#ftnref13" name="ftn13" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.45s ease 0s;">[13]</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQbBuAYIov4" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.45s ease 0s;">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQbBuAYIov4</a>.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; letter-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://civilrights.org/resource/oppose-confirmation-damien-m-schiff-u-s-court-federal-claims/#ftnref14" name="ftn14" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.45s ease 0s;">[14]</a> <a href="http://plf.typepad.com/files/plf-ac-brf-in-sprt-of-aplnt.pdf" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.45s ease 0s;">http://plf.typepad.com/files/plf-ac-brf-in-sprt-of-aplnt.pdf</a>.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; letter-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://civilrights.org/resource/oppose-confirmation-damien-m-schiff-u-s-court-federal-claims/#ftnref15" name="ftn15" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.45s ease 0s;">[15]</a> <a href="http://blog.pacificlegal.org/fighting-for-political-speech-in-the-supreme-court/" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.45s ease 0s;">http://blog.pacificlegal.org/fighting-for-political-speech-in-the-supreme-court/</a>.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; letter-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://civilrights.org/resource/oppose-confirmation-damien-m-schiff-u-s-court-federal-claims/#ftnref16" name="ftn16" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.45s ease 0s;">[16]</a> <a href="http://www.investors.com/politics/commentary/environmental-law-a-good-target-for-trumps-efforts-to-make-america-great-again/" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.45s ease 0s;">http://www.investors.com/politics/commentary/environmental-law-a-good-target-for-trumps-efforts-to-make-america-great-again/</a>.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; letter-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://civilrights.org/resource/oppose-confirmation-damien-m-schiff-u-s-court-federal-claims/#ftnref17" name="ftn17" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.45s ease 0s;">[17]</a> Id.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; letter-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://civilrights.org/resource/oppose-confirmation-damien-m-schiff-u-s-court-federal-claims/#ftnref18" name="ftn18" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.45s ease 0s;">[18]</a> <a href="http://www.afj.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Schiff-LouDobbs.pdf" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.45s ease 0s;">http://www.afj.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Schiff-LouDobbs.pdf</a>.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; letter-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://civilrights.org/resource/oppose-confirmation-damien-m-schiff-u-s-court-federal-claims/#ftnref19" name="ftn19" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.45s ease 0s;">[19]</a> <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/schiff-and-macdonald-the-endangered-species-act-turns-408212hold-the-applause-1388186442" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.45s ease 0s;">https://www.wsj.com/articles/schiff-and-macdonald-the-endangered-species-act-turns-408212hold-the-applause-1388186442</a>.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; letter-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://civilrights.org/resource/oppose-confirmation-damien-m-schiff-u-s-court-federal-claims/#ftnref20" name="ftn20" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.45s ease 0s;">[20]</a><a href="http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2017/04/we_can_pursue_earth_days_goals_without_endangering_the_environment_for_freedom.html" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.45s ease 0s;">http://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2017/04/we_can_pursue_earth_days_goals_without_endangering_the_environment_for_freedom.html</a>.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; letter-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://civilrights.org/resource/oppose-confirmation-damien-m-schiff-u-s-court-federal-claims/#ftnref21" name="ftn21" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.45s ease 0s;">[21]</a> <b><span style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat;">California Building Industry Association v. City of San Jose</span>, </b>351 P.3d 974 (Cal. 2015).</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; letter-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://civilrights.org/resource/oppose-confirmation-damien-m-schiff-u-s-court-federal-claims/#ftnref22" name="ftn22" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.45s ease 0s;">[22]</a> <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyNm8SDBbsc" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.45s ease 0s;">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyNm8SDBbsc</a>.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px 0px 25px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; letter-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://civilrights.org/resource/oppose-confirmation-damien-m-schiff-u-s-court-federal-claims/#ftnref23" name="ftn23" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.45s ease 0s;">[23]</a> Id.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: 27px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; letter-spacing: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><a href="https://civilrights.org/resource/oppose-confirmation-damien-m-schiff-u-s-court-federal-claims/#ftnref24" name="ftn24" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.45s ease 0s;">[24]</a><a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20080610122430/http:/omniaomnibus.typepad.com:80/omnia_omnibus/2008/05/index.html" style="box-sizing: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border-style: solid; border-width: 0px; background-repeat: no-repeat; touch-action: manipulation; text-decoration-line: none; transition: all 0.45s ease 0s;">https://web.archive.org/web/20080610122430/http:/omniaomnibus.typepad.com:80/omnia_omnibus/2008/05/index.html</a>.</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">=</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">off bs</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 35px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.65em; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span data-contrast="auto" style="background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254); box-sizing: inherit; outline: none;">amien Schiff is a senior attorney at Pacific Legal Foundation. He leads its environmental practice group, a unique initiative that draws broadly from PLF’s expertise and success in </span><a href="https://pacificlegal.org/property-rights/" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; outline: none; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer;">property rights</a><span data-contrast="auto" style="background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254); box-sizing: inherit; outline: none;"> and </span><a href="https://pacificlegal.org/separation-of-powers/" style="background-color: transparent; box-sizing: inherit; outline: none; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer;">separation of powers</a><span data-contrast="auto" style="box-sizing: inherit; outline: none;"><span style="background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254);"> litigation. Over the years, Damien has represented hundreds of landowners and property rights advocates to defend their liberties against heavy-handed and unwarranted environmental and land-use regulation. </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);">His litigation experience includes </span></span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);"><a href="https://pacificlegal.org/case/sackett-v-environmental-protection-agency/" style="box-sizing: inherit; outline: none; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer;"><i style="box-sizing: inherit; outline: none; line-height: inherit;">Sackett v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency</i></a><span data-contrast="auto" style="box-sizing: inherit; outline: none;">, </span><a href="https://www.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/serials/files/supreme-court-review/2012/9/scr-2012-schiff.pdf" style="box-sizing: inherit; outline: none; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer;">a groundbreaking decision</a><span data-contrast="auto" style="box-sizing: inherit; outline: none;"> in which the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the right of landowners to challenge Clean Water Act compliance orders issued by EPA, and </span><i style="box-sizing: inherit; outline: none; line-height: inherit;">Contoski v. Norton</i><span data-contrast="auto" style="box-sizing: inherit; outline: none;">, PLF’s successful effort to force the federal government to make good on its promise </span><a href="https://www.mprnews.org/story/2007/02/06/eagledevelopment" style="box-sizing: inherit; outline: none; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer;">to delist the bald eagle</a></span><span data-contrast="auto" style="box-sizing: inherit; outline: none;"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 204, 102);"> from the Endangered Species Act</span><span style="background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254);">.</span></span><span data-ccp-props="{" style="background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254); box-sizing: inherit; outline: none;"> </span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 35px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.65em; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span data-contrast="auto" style="box-sizing: inherit; outline: none;">Besides litigation, Damien has written academic articles on a variety of subjects, including the </span><a href="https://environs.law.ucdavis.edu/Volumes/37/2/Articles/Schiff.pdf" style="box-sizing: inherit; outline: none; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer;">Endangered Species Act</a><span data-contrast="auto" style="box-sizing: inherit; outline: none;">, the </span><a href="https://scholarship.law.wm.edu/wmelpr/vol42/iss2/3/" style="box-sizing: inherit; outline: none; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer;">Clean Water Act</a><span data-contrast="auto" style="box-sizing: inherit; outline: none;">, </span><a href="https://law.lclark.edu/law_reviews/environmental_law/past_issues/volume_49/49-4/" style="box-sizing: inherit; outline: none; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer;">greenhouse gas torts</a><span data-contrast="auto" style="box-sizing: inherit; outline: none;">, the </span><a href="https://docs.rwu.edu/rwu_LR/vol11/iss1/2/" style="box-sizing: inherit; outline: none; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer;">duty to rescue</a><span data-contrast="auto" style="box-sizing: inherit; outline: none;">, and </span><a href="https://journals.iupui.edu/index.php/iiclr/article/view/17788" style="box-sizing: inherit; outline: none; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer;">international water law</a><span data-contrast="auto" style="box-sizing: inherit; outline: none;">. He has appeared on a variety of television and radio programs and has been quoted in </span><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/28/world/americas/28iht-eagle.1.6378215.html" style="box-sizing: inherit; outline: none; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer;"><i style="box-sizing: inherit; outline: none; line-height: inherit;">The New York Times</i></a><span data-contrast="auto" style="box-sizing: inherit; outline: none;">, </span><a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303497804579240682942455964" style="box-sizing: inherit; outline: none; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer;"><i style="box-sizing: inherit; outline: none; line-height: inherit;">The Wall Street Journal</i></a><span data-contrast="auto" style="box-sizing: inherit; outline: none;">, </span><a href="https://harpers.org/archive/2021/05/birds-of-a-feather-endangered-species-list-revision/" style="box-sizing: inherit; outline: none; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer;"><i style="box-sizing: inherit; outline: none; line-height: inherit;">Harper’s Magazine</i></a><span data-contrast="auto" style="box-sizing: inherit; outline: none;">, and </span><a href="https://www.economist.com/taxonomy/term/108?page=609" style="box-sizing: inherit; outline: none; background-color: transparent; line-height: inherit; text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer;"><i style="box-sizing: inherit; outline: none; line-height: inherit;">The Economist</i></a><span data-contrast="auto" style="box-sizing: inherit; outline: none;">, among other publications.</span><span data-ccp-props="{" style="box-sizing: inherit; outline: none;"> </span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 35px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.65em; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span data-contrast="auto" style="box-sizing: inherit; outline: none;">He obtained his law degree </span><span data-contrast="none" style="box-sizing: inherit; outline: none;">magna cum laude</span><span data-contrast="auto" style="box-sizing: inherit; outline: none;"> from the University of San Diego School of Law, and his undergraduate degree </span><span data-contrast="none" style="box-sizing: inherit; outline: none;">magna cum laude</span><span data-contrast="auto" style="box-sizing: inherit; outline: none;"> from Georgetown University. While at USD, he was a research assistant for Professor Bernard Siegan, a leading constitutional theorist and advocate for property rights and economic liberty. Immediately prior to joining PLF, Damien clerked for Judge (and former PLF attorney) Victor Wolski of the United States Court of Federal Claims. Damien credits the mentoring and examples of Professor Siegan and Judge Wolski for his decision to pursue a career in<b> liberty-based public interest litigation.</b></span><span data-ccp-props="{" style="box-sizing: inherit; outline: none;"><b> </b></span></font></p><p style="box-sizing: inherit; outline: none; margin: 0px 0px 35px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.65em; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; background-color: rgb(254, 254, 254);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span data-contrast="auto" style="box-sizing: inherit; outline: none;">Damien lives in Sacramento with his wife, two young sons, four chickens, and a cat named Princess. In his off hours he enjoys stamp collecting, Gregorian chant, and martinis—preferably at the same time.</span><span data-ccp-props="{" style="box-sizing: inherit; outline: none;"> </span></font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">=</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><a href="https://www.afj.org/our-work/nominees?nominee_type=pending" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">https://www.afj.org/our-work/nominees?nominee_type=pending</a></font></p><p style="margin: 24px 0px 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Damien Schiff—who has called Justice Anthony Kennedy a “judicial prostitute” </b>—has been nominated by President Trump to be a judge on the U.S. Court of Federal Claims (“CFC”). As this report demonstrates, rarely has there been a nominee who is so sorely unfit to serve as a judge.</font></p><p style="margin: 24px 0px 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Remarkably, attacking the integrity of a Supreme Court justice is just one example of Schiff’s character. He also has repeatedly disparaged environmentalists, LGBTQ advocates, union organizers, and legal scholars, among others.</font></p><p style="margin: 24px 0px 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">He unquestionably lacks the temperament to be a fair and unbiased judge anywhere, let alone on the CFC, where he could serve several terms, potentially remaining for decades. The court has been called the “keeper of the nation’s conscience”2 and “the People’s Court”3 and hears monetary claims against the U.S. Government deriving from the Constitution, federal statutes, executive regulations, and civilian or military contracts. Moreover, judges on this court have been elevated to federal courts of appeals in the past.</font></p><p style="margin: 24px 0px 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Besides his disqualifying temperament, Schiff himself has emphasized that he would not be a neutral jurist. He sees the role of the judge not to apply facts to law, but to advance an agenda. He has called for a “reinvigorated constitutional jurisprudence, emanating from the judiciary” which “could well be the catalyst to real reform, as opposed to that reform coming from other branches.” He has written that the “the President is hampered by the modern administrative state” and “Congress, as a collective body of 535 persons, cannot act effectively.” But, “the Supreme Court, with just five votes, can overturn precedents upon which many of the unconstitutional excrescences of the New Deal and Great Society eras depend.”</font></p><p style="margin: 24px 0px 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Schiff is a member of The Federalist Society and is a lawyer for the Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF), a group whose goal, PLF’s Vice President of Litigation admitted, is to “get rid of the regulatory state established by F.D.R.’s New Deal.</span>” PLF brings sweeping challenges to fundamental protections for the environment, workers, and victims of discrimination, and Schiff’s practice has been devoted to weakening environmental laws and other legal protections.</font></p><p style="margin: 24px 0px 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"><b>Indeed, as this report demonstrates, Schiff holds extremist views regarding property rights and the ability of government to protect the health and safety of the American people.</b> He has dedicated his career to undermining protections for clean air, clean water, and wildlife. He believes that federal land should be sold, including Yosemite National Park to Walt Disney.</span> And, he believes persons who don’t use public schools should not have to pay for educating our children, noting “[w]hy should folks have to pay for somebody else’s education, or for facilities that they themselves do not use?” He believes corporations should have even more unchecked power. For example,<b>he believes the Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) is unconstitutional</b>.</font></p><p style="margin: 24px 0px 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">It is no surprise that a nominee who wrote “that the only useful [sic] metric for gauging success is money” has simultaneously questioned free speech rights for individuals while advocating for greater corporate spending in elections. Namely, he has criticized the “progressivist argument” that “having lots of speech generally is always a good thing,” but declared that what our nation needs is more corporate money in our politics saying <b>“corporate speech adds value to a democratic society</b>” and “their speech . . . should be encouraged, not censored.”</font></p><p style="margin: 24px 0px 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">While extolling the rights of corporations and property owners, Schiff has minimized other essential constitutional protections. For example, he has vigorously opposed civil rights for LGBTQ Americans, including opposing Lawrence v. Texas, marriage equality, and even efforts to prevent LGBTQ children from being bullied at school. And, his record on issues involving persons of color and women are just as troubling.<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> He has written that court decisions that upheld racial equity programs were comparable to Dred Scott, Plessy, and Korematsu. His assertion that policies designed to ensure equal opportunities for minorities and women are comparable to court decisions upholding slavery, Jim Crow, and the internment of Japanese Americans is self-evidently absurd and offensive, as is his belief that the experience of Americans dealing with the Environmental Protection Agency is akin to slavery.</span></font></p><p style="margin: 24px 0px 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">He also has opposed efforts to ensure equal opportunity for women under Title IX, </font></p><p style="margin: 24px 0px 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">...</font></p><p style="margin-top: 8px; margin-bottom: 8px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4" style="">==</font></p>