gale norton bak

5/17<div>
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</div><div>promoted to primary, 9/14, evil pending ---<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%"><tbody><tr valign="top"><td width="400">George W. Bush's ecologist
Gale Norton, Minister of Ideological Pollution
by Paul Labarique<div class="chapo">Gale Norton has two faces: when she addresses voters, she is an ecologist lawyer and a pacifist in favor of the legalization of soft drugs and the elimination of CIA. But when she was appointed Bushâs Minister of Environment, she only dealt with extreme right-wing associations, defended what she called "the industrialists' constitutional right to pollute" and sabotaged the Kyoto Protocol. She represented American multinational companies' capacity to express "value-freedom" and guaranteed their impunity....
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</td><td width="400"><div class="texte" align="justify">At the beginning of the 70s, the young lady began to study law at the University of Denver where Condoleezza Rice studied too. During the Viet Nam war, she participated temporarily in several pacifists\ demonstrations, just before joining the big extremely liberal ideologuesâ family. She joined the Libertarian Party (not a powerful political party in the U.S.) at the end of the 70s and went to Colorado to run the presidential campaign of the Libertarian Party candidate, Mister Ed Clarke, between 1979 and 1980. Clarkeâs program was opposed to that of Ronald Reagan and accused the ânational securityâ institutions: he wanted the Department of Energy, the FBI and the CIA to be dismantled. The young lawyer wrote speeches for Mr. Clarke in which she demanded the legalization of marihuana and uncensored pornography. On foreign policy issues, Ed Clarke called for the return of every American soldier abroad [<a href="http://www.voltairenet.org/article30083.html#nb2" class="spip_note" rel="footnote" title="Laura Flanders: Bushwomen - Tales of a cynical species, Verso, (...)" id="nh2">2</a>].The campaign was backed up by Charles Koch, heir of Koch Industries, whose father Fred Koch, had always financed anti-union movements and had been a prominent member of the national council of anticommunist organization John Birch Society. âLibertariansâ were also assisted by the Cato Institute which was subsidized by Charles Koch himself. At the end of the campaign, Ed Clarke won a million votes, a remarkable record for an unknown candidate and an insignificant party. Gale Nortonâs membership in Bushâs team allow us to question the âlibertarianâ ideology for the powers of the Federal state police were strengthened in an unusual way, regulations against freedom were multiplied, the moral order was reestablished and the soldiers were sent to two foreign wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. It seems that this ideology only helps the captains of industries to implement their own projects without considering ecological or health-related issues. This is what Gale Norton did when she finished Ed Clarkeâs campaign. When she graduated in 1979, she was recruited by the Mountain States Legal Foundation, a jurists association based in Denver âdevoted to the individual freedom, the right to private property, government control and the free market systemâ. Its founder, Joseph Coors, made his fortune in one of the three major American breweries and decided to invest his money in the ideological reform of the Right. In 1973, he financed the Heritage Foundation by making a 250 000 dollars contribution and had already subsidized the Committee to Save a Free Congress in 1972 [<a href="http://www.voltairenet.org/article30083.html#nb3" class="spip_note" rel="footnote" title="Russ Bellant: The Coors Connection - How Coors Family Philanthropy (...)" id="nh3">3</a>]. During this period, extreme conservatives lost many legal cases while their lawyers were also working in favor of the minoritiesâ civic rights, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the National Organization of Women which succeeded in limiting existent discrimination in the labor market. On their side, Indians in the U.S. were successful in the recognition of their religious rights and the protection of some of their more sacred sites. By that time, the Congress passed several texts in which âindustrial accidentsâ such as aquifer pollution and the emission of toxic products to the atmosphere were censored. Hence, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) passed in 1969 demanded the government to make a research on âthe impact on the environmentâ before implementing any project or activity. Other texts defended species or animals to be in danger of extinction whereas the Safe Drinking Water Act and the Clean Air and Clean Water Act protected water and the ecosystem.<dl class="spip_document_30279 spip_documents spip_documents_left" style="float: left; width: 150px;"><dt><img src="/9a7b4744-94e6-5ade-ae67-4872e4566694.jpg"/></dt><dt class="spip_doc_titre" style="width: 150px;">
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The extreme Right tried to react against this new movement which included consumers as well as ecologists. The Heritage Foundation worked on the ideological presentation but a structure was needed to make this âsolidâ in court. In this context, Coors founded in 1977 the Mountain States Legal Foundation (MSLF) and became its first president. This institution, directed by republican James Watt, was immediately described by militant ecologists Â«as a right-wing and anti-ecologist organization aimed at sabotaging environmental lawsÂ» [<a href="http://www.voltairenet.org/article30083.html#nb4" class="spip_note" rel="footnote" title="To know about the association funding, visit the site MediaTransparency" id="nh4">4</a>]. Actually, this institution has been characterized by its extremely liberal conception on the defense of the environment: for instance, Mountain States Legal Foundationâs jurists have permitted mountain guides to work on the Devilâs Tower, Wyoming, despite its classification as a ânational monumentâ and the fact that the National Park Service wanted to prohibit such a practice to show respect to the Indians who has lived there and considered the place sacred. A survey publish by the Yale Law Journal in 1984 revealed that in 24 litigations taken to court by Mountain States, the positions defended âbenefited societies represented in its board of directors, clients of societies represented in its legal board or MSLFâs main fund suppliersâ. Ronald Reagan's accession to the White House in 1980 meant new perspectives to ecology's extreme liberals. The director of the Mountain States Legal Foundation, James Watt, was appointed Minister of Environment and dealt with national reserves. Then, Gale Norton was promoted and defended by all possible legal means the positions and interests of the major enterprises on environment related issues. One of her arguments became famous: based on the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution of the U.S. which states that private property can not be hindered by a public use without a "fair compensation", Gale Norton affirmed that the big industries had to be compensated by the Federal State for their pollution was in favor of the general interest. As she harshly explained: "we should recognize that there is an individual right to pollute or make noise in a given area".</div></td></tr></tbody></table></div></td></tr></tbody></table>MMS deepwater gulf blowout spill:
<p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.25em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit;">Many of the alleged misdeeds occurred when Gale Norton was secretary of the interior. Now a general counsel with Shell in Denver, Norton declined to comment, even when asked to address the portion of the reports dealing with the department she headed.<p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.25em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit;">“It’s appropriate for me to let the Shell public-affairs people discuss it,” Norton said.<p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.25em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit;">Shell is one of the oil companies named in the report, along with Chevron, Hess Corp. and Denver-based Gary-Williams Energy Corp.<p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.25em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit;">“Shell has been aware of the inspector general’s investigation regarding alleged improper conduct by certain MMS employees and cooperated fully with that investigation,” said Shell spokeswoman Darci Sinclair. “However, it would be premature to comment on the Interior Department inspector general report until we have had an opportunity to review the content.”<p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.25em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit;">Officials with Chevron could not be reached.<p style="margin: 0px 0px 1.25em; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; box-sizing: inherit; background-color: rgb(250, 250, 250);">One report said that Gregory W. Smith, former head of the Lakewood MMS office, had sex and took illegal drugs with subordinates.=<a href="https://www.doioig.gov/sites/doioig.gov/files/RoyalDutchShell_Public.pdf">https://www.doioig.gov/sites/doioig.gov/files/RoyalDutchShell_Public.pdf</a>blm shale oilrfk book, links her to wise usenorton in charge of 450 m acres land, 3 bill acres coastal waterways; year after law school grad, MSLN under Watt; grazing limits, oil offshore and in wilderness and wildlife refuges  36 ( funders Burlington Northern, exxon, Indep PetrolA ssoc and rocky mtn  oil and gas assoc 37. in 84 after 2 yrs at Hoover, got into dept of agric, then int, then RR CEQ. at Pacific Res Inst for Public Pol, her takings rule  would end enforcement. did not win senate seat  v37  advisor to TASSC, Defenders of prop Rights WU, PERC, founded Council for Rep for Env protection (Newt on bd) $ from Coors, arco, am forest and paper assoc, chem mfg assoc 37hist coms
<div id="pageHeading" style="margin: 15px 0px 20px;"><h1 style="padding: 3px 3px 3px 0px; margin: 0px;">Profile: Gale A. Norton</h1></div><div id="entityPositionsHeld"><h2 style="margin: 3px 0px;">Positions that Gale A. Norton has held:</h2><ul><li style="margin: 8px 2px 0px 3px;">US Secretary of Interior</li></ul></div><div id="entityRelations"><div id="entityQuotes"><h2 style="margin: 3px 0px;">Gale A. Norton was a participant or observer in the following events:</h2><div class="timeline-paging"><div class="listOfEntitysEvents" style="margin-top: 35px;"><div id="timelineEntries" style="margin-top: 40px;"><div class="i" style="margin-bottom: 20px; margin-right: 5px; padding-left: 10px;"><a name="a040401environnepdg" /><div class="iT" style="width: 524px; display: table;"><a name="a040401environnepdg"></a><a name="a040401environnepdg" /><a name="a040401environnepdg" /><a name="a040401environnepdg" /><a name="a040401environnepdg" /><a name="a040401environnepdg" /><a name="a040401environnepdg" /><h2 style="margin: 3px 0px 0px; width: 400px; float: left;"><a name="a040401environnepdg"></a><a name="a040401environnepdg"></a><a name="a040401environnepdg"></a><a name="a040401environnepdg"></a><a name="a040401environnepdg"></a><a name="a040401environnepdg"></a><a name="a040401environnepdg"></a><a name="a040401environnepdg"></a><a name="a040401environnepdg"></a><a name="a040401environnepdg"></a><a name="a040401environnepdg"></a><a name="a040401environnepdg"></a><a name="a040401environnepdg"></a><a name="a040401environnepdg"></a><a name="a040401environnepdg"></a><a name="a040401environnepdg" /><a name="a040401environnepdg" /><a name="a040401environnepdg" /><a name="a040401environnepdg" /><a name="a040401environnepdg" /><a name="a040401environnepdg" /><a name="a040401environnepdg" /><a name="a040401environnepdg" /><a name="a040401environnepdg" /><a href="http://www.historycommons.org/context.jsp?item=a040401environnepdg#a040401environnepdg" title="View in context" style="text-decoration-line: none;">April 4, 2001: Environmentalists Allowed to Meet with Cheney’s Energy Task Force</a></h2><div class="eLB" style="width: 115px; float: right; vertical-align: top; text-align: right;"><a href="http://www.historycommons.org/eventedit.jsp?oid=1626004942-57992" title="Edit event" style="text-decoration-line: none;"><img src="/0d43fb18-5169-550c-9387-350574621bd8.gif"/></td></tr></tbody></table>
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</td><td width="400"><div class="texte" align="justify">At the beginning of the 70s, the young lady began to study law at the University of Denver where Condoleezza Rice studied too. During the Viet Nam war, she participated temporarily in several pacifists\ demonstrations, just before joining the big extremely liberal ideologuesâ family. She joined the Libertarian Party (not a powerful political party in the U.S.) at the end of the 70s and went to Colorado to run the presidential campaign of the Libertarian Party candidate, Mister Ed Clarke, between 1979 and 1980. Clarkeâs program was opposed to that of Ronald Reagan and accused the ânational securityâ institutions: he wanted the Department of Energy, the FBI and the CIA to be dismantled. The young lawyer wrote speeches for Mr. Clarke in which she demanded the legalization of marihuana and uncensored pornography. On foreign policy issues, Ed Clarke called for the return of every American soldier abroad [<a href="http://www.voltairenet.org/article30083.html#nb2" class="spip_note" rel="footnote" title="Laura Flanders: Bushwomen - Tales of a cynical species, Verso, (...)" id="nh2">2</a>].The campaign was backed up by Charles Koch, heir of Koch Industries, whose father Fred Koch, had always financed anti-union movements and had been a prominent member of the national council of anticommunist organization John Birch Society. âLibertariansâ were also assisted by the Cato Institute which was subsidized by Charles Koch himself. At the end of the campaign, Ed Clarke won a million votes, a remarkable record for an unknown candidate and an insignificant party. Gale Nortonâs membership in Bushâs team allow us to question the âlibertarianâ ideology for the powers of the Federal state police were strengthened in an unusual way, regulations against freedom were multiplied, the moral order was reestablished and the soldiers were sent to two foreign wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. It seems that this ideology only helps the captains of industries to implement their own projects without considering ecological or health-related issues. This is what Gale Norton did when she finished Ed Clarkeâs campaign. When she graduated in 1979, she was recruited by the Mountain States Legal Foundation, a jurists association based in Denver âdevoted to the individual freedom, the right to private property, government control and the free market systemâ. Its founder, Joseph Coors, made his fortune in one of the three major American breweries and decided to invest his money in the ideological reform of the Right. In 1973, he financed the Heritage Foundation by making a 250 000 dollars contribution and had already subsidized the Committee to Save a Free Congress in 1972 [<a href="http://www.voltairenet.org/article30083.html#nb3" class="spip_note" rel="footnote" title="Russ Bellant: The Coors Connection - How Coors Family Philanthropy (...)" id="nh3">3</a>]. During this period, extreme conservatives lost many legal cases while their lawyers were also working in favor of the minoritiesâ civic rights, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the National Organization of Women which succeeded in limiting existent discrimination in the labor market. On their side, Indians in the U.S. were successful in the recognition of their religious rights and the protection of some of their more sacred sites. By that time, the Congress passed several texts in which âindustrial accidentsâ such as aquifer pollution and the emission of toxic products to the atmosphere were censored. Hence, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) passed in 1969 demanded the government to make a research on âthe impact on the environmentâ before implementing any project or activity. Other texts defended species or animals to be in danger of extinction whereas the Safe Drinking Water Act and the Clean Air and Clean Water Act protected water and the ecosystem.<dl class="spip_document_30279 spip_documents spip_documents_left" style="float: left; width: 150px;"><dt><img src="/9a7b4744-94e6-5ade-ae67-4872e4566694.jpg"/></dt><dt class="spip_doc_titre" style="width: 150px;">
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The extreme Right tried to react against this new movement which included consumers as well as ecologists. The Heritage Foundation worked on the ideological presentation but a structure was needed to make this âsolidâ in court. In this context, Coors founded in 1977 the Mountain States Legal Foundation (MSLF) and became its first president. This institution, directed by republican James Watt, was immediately described by militant ecologists Â«as a right-wing and anti-ecologist organization aimed at sabotaging environmental lawsÂ» [<a href="http://www.voltairenet.org/article30083.html#nb4" class="spip_note" rel="footnote" title="To know about the association funding, visit the site MediaTransparency" id="nh4">4</a>]. Actually, this institution has been characterized by its extremely liberal conception on the defense of the environment: for instance, Mountain States Legal Foundationâs jurists have permitted mountain guides to work on the Devilâs Tower, Wyoming, despite its classification as a ânational monumentâ and the fact that the National Park Service wanted to prohibit such a practice to show respect to the Indians who has lived there and considered the place sacred. A survey publish by the Yale Law Journal in 1984 revealed that in 24 litigations taken to court by Mountain States, the positions defended âbenefited societies represented in its board of directors, clients of societies represented in its legal board or MSLFâs main fund suppliersâ. Ronald Reagan's accession to the White House in 1980 meant new perspectives to ecology's extreme liberals. The director of the Mountain States Legal Foundation, James Watt, was appointed Minister of Environment and dealt with national reserves. Then, Gale Norton was promoted and defended by all possible legal means the positions and interests of the major enterprises on environment related issues. One of her arguments became famous: based on the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution of the U.S. which states that private property can not be hindered by a public use without a "fair compensation", Gale Norton affirmed that the big industries had to be compensated by the Federal State for their pollution was in favor of the general interest. As she harshly explained: "we should recognize that there is an individual right to pollute or make noise in a given area". However, this legal argument was eliminated since 1887 by the Supreme Court of the U.S.: in a famous decision it stated that Â«a government can prevent an owner from using his assets if he harms other individuals and do not pay any compensation for the damageÂ». Ronald Reagan's conservative revolution challenged this jurisprudence first with Gale Norton's works and then with writer Richard Epstein. This former law professor wrote that laws on environmentalissues, minimal wage, working codes, and even the personal income tax, could be associated with ownership privations and accordingly justify the payment of a financial compensation to the enterprises upon which they are imposed. Gale Nortonâs intelligence is noticeable. In 1983, she was offered a post at Stanford Universityâs Hoover Institution where she studied the possibilities of avoiding environmental laws and âpermissions to polluteâ - a new topic by then- which is an idea that can be found in the Clean Air Act proposed during the Bushâs Admintration. In 1984, she became a member of the team who worked for the Department of Environment after James Wattsâ forced resignation under the ecologistsâ pressure.The Minister of environment, Don Hodel, future leader of the Christian Coalition, gave Gale Norton what she needed to work on a report that would support oil prospecting in a remarkable natural reserve of the Artic region. Then, from 1985 to 1988, the former âlibertarianâ worked for the Presidential Council on the Quality of the Environment which is a paradoxical position for a former opponent of the Federal State interference on ecological issues... In 1987, when Ronald Reaganâs second term came to an end, Gale Norton returned to Colorado to start a local political career. Her thesis and ideas were very popular in the industrial world as was shown in 1988 with the foundation of the Wise Use movement, an initiative by Ron Arnold and Alan Gottlieb. 250 delegates closed to the industrial world or lobby were present in that meeting and proposed Alaska be given to oil companies, natural reserves to mining companies and âpro-developmentâ groups such as the Mountain States Legal Foundation be authorized to chase ecologists who injured industrial societies. Aware of the need of maintaining her presence in this sector, Gale Norton joined the Independence Institute of the libertarian movement, the Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy [<a href="http://www.voltairenet.org/article30083.html#nb5" class="spip_note" rel="footnote" title="The Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy is San Franciscoâs (...)" id="nh5">5</a>] and, above all, the Federalist Society, a conservative juristsâ organization which included Kenneth Starr, Robert Borke and Edwin Meese, Ronald Reaganâs Secretary of Justice. But what Gale Norton had in mind was to be the Attorney General of the state of Colorado, a post she got in 1991, given to a woman for the first time. Once she was appointed, her policy was neither âlibertarianâ nor ecological. She favored the death penalty, increased juvenile detention centers, and reduced one third of her administration budget for environmental issues. She even refused to press charges against an enterprise which worked on a gold mine and spilled cyanide in a local river exterminating every form of aquatic life in an area of more than 20 kilometers. Things went even worse for members of her constituency pressed charges against different societies which had damaged aquifers with heavy metal and she proposed them laughable financial agreements when she refused to act. That was the case of Louisiana-Pacific: whereas Gale Norton refused to press charges against the company, federal authorities decided to interfere and Louisiana-Pacific had to pay a 37 million dollars fine. Gale Norton's record as the General Attorney of Colorado was shameful. However, she was reelected in 1995. This time, her campaign was financed by the tobacco industry (Philip Morris, R.J. Reynolds, the Smokeless Tobacco Council and the Tobacco and Candy Political Action Campaign) and, as a result,Colorado did not join the 23 states that were willing to condemn it. She even testified before Congress on the âunconstitutionalityâ of such a procedure and Denverâs media began to call her Â«Mrs. MarlboroÂ». She only joined the battle in the last moment, an action by which she got part of the compensations gained. After that, she opposed positive discrimination programs, especially those to protect disabled people, defended a legislation passed by Colorado voters which discriminated homosexuals and nostalgically recalled the courage of the confederate soldiers of slavery south during the Civil War. Gale Norton went too far and in 1996 she lost senatorial elections despite the invaluable help of political genius Karl Rove [<a href="http://www.voltairenet.org/article30083.html#nb6" class="spip_note" rel="footnote" title="Bushwomen, op.cit" id="nh6">6</a>]. However, Gale Norton kept her contacts in Washington, especially among the most reactionary elements of the Republican Party. In 1988 she founded the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy with the purpose of challenging Martha Marks' Republicans for Environmental Protection who was considered to be too ecological. In fact, many owners of the major polluting industries were present at the inaugural meeting and were ready to finance the former libertarianâs new toy, especially the Chlorine Chemical Council, the National Coal Council, the Chemical Manufacturers Association and the National Mining Association. Extremely conservative Newt Gringrich became a regular guest, always received as a God by the new Republican group [<a href="http://www.voltairenet.org/article30083.html#nb7" class="spip_note" rel="footnote" title="William Booth: Â«For Norton, a Party MissionÂ», Washington Post, January 8, (...)" id="nh7">7</a>]. In 1999, Gale Norton worked at the same time as a jurist for the Brownstein, Hyatt & Farber, P.C law firm. Her job was to defend Houston-based society NL Industries, the former National Lead Co., which became famous for spreading the use of paint with lead and causing the appearance of cancer in young people, said American courts. Gale Norton was not only the National Lead Co.âs lawyer; she was also registered as a lobbyist of this society in Colorado judicial institutions [<a href="http://www.voltairenet.org/article30083.html#nb8" class="spip_note" rel="footnote" title="Â« Norton lobbied for superfund target Â», Associated Press, January 5, (...)" id="nh8">8</a>]. Gale Norton was also the representative of Saudi society Delta Oil and of BP-Amoco during the unsuccessful negotiations with the Talibans for the construction of an oil pipeline through Afghanistan [<a href="http://www.voltairenet.org/article30083.html#nb9" class="spip_note" rel="footnote" title="Ahmed Rashid: Taliban: Islam, Oil and the New Great Game in Central Asia, (...)" id="nh9">9</a>]. This career with the major polluting industrialists was highly applauded by the new Bush Administration. In January 2001, she was appointed Minister of Environment. Since then, her main task has been ... not to do anything that might upset the major polluting industries and, above all, to oppose the Kyoto Protocol. The same thing happens with her assistant secretary, Steven Griles, who sometimes is presented by President Bush as the real head of department. This man has a lobby record too to the eyes of the polluting industries [<a href="http://www.voltairenet.org/article30083.html#nb10" class="spip_note" rel="footnote" title="See Adam Werbach: Â«Son of James WattÂ», AlterNet, September 17, (...)" id="nh10">10</a>]. In addition, industrialists count on the influence of the Federalist Society to which GaleNorton belongs to, and whose founder is Spencer Abraham, former representative of the automobile industry in the Senate and current Secretary of Energy [<a href="http://www.voltairenet.org/article30083.html#nb11" class="spip_note" rel="footnote" title="Arthur Lepic: Â«Spencer Abraham, un homme de confiance Â», Voltaire, April 15, (...)" id="nh11">11</a>]. Gale Nortonâs duplicity is a transposition in the political world of the communications methods already adopted in commercialization matters by some transnational companies: it is not about products but about values. In this case, it is not about political decisions but about ecological and freedom values.</div>

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<hr noshade="noshade" size="1" /> [<a href="http://www.voltairenet.org/article30083.html#nh1" id="nb1" class="spip_note" title="Footnotes 1" rev="footnote">1</a>] Quoted by Serge Halimi, Â«Quand la droite amÃ©ricaine pensait lâimpensableÂ», Le Monde Diplomatique, January, 2002[<a href="http://www.voltairenet.org/article30083.html#nh2" id="nb2" class="spip_note" title="Footnotes 2" rev="footnote">2</a>] Laura Flanders: Bushwomen - Tales of a cynical species, Verso, 2004[<a href="http://www.voltairenet.org/article30083.html#nh3" id="nb3" class="spip_note" title="Footnotes 3" rev="footnote">3</a>] Russ Bellant: The Coors Connection - How Coors Family Philanthropy Undermines Democratic Pluralism, Political Research Associates, 1988-1991[<a href="http://www.voltairenet.org/article30083.html#nh4" id="nb4" class="spip_note" title="Footnotes 4" rev="footnote">4</a>] To know about the association funding, visit the site MediaTransparency[<a href="http://www.voltairenet.org/article30083.html#nh5" id="nb5" class="spip_note" title="Footnotes 5" rev="footnote">5</a>] The Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy is San Franciscoâs homologous of New Yorkâs Manhattan Institute[<a href="http://www.voltairenet.org/article30083.html#nh6" id="nb6" class="spip_note" title="Footnotes 6" rev="footnote">6</a>] Bushwomen, op.cit[<a href="http://www.voltairenet.org/article30083.html#nh7" id="nb7" class="spip_note" title="Footnotes 7" rev="footnote">7</a>] William Booth: Â«For Norton, a Party MissionÂ», Washington Post, January 8, 2001[<a href="http://www.voltairenet.org/article30083.html#nh8" id="nb8" class="spip_note" title="Footnotes 8" rev="footnote">8</a>] Â« Norton lobbied for superfund target Â», Associated Press, January 5, 2001[<a href="http://www.voltairenet.org/article30083.html#nh9" id="nb9" class="spip_note" title="Footnotes 9" rev="footnote">9</a>] Ahmed Rashid: Taliban: Islam, Oil and the New Great Game in Central Asia, Tauris & Co, 2000[<a href="http://www.voltairenet.org/article30083.html#nh10" id="nb10" class="spip_note" title="Footnotes 10" rev="footnote">10</a>] See Adam Werbach: Â«Son of James WattÂ», AlterNet, September 17, 2004[<a href="http://www.voltairenet.org/article30083.html#nh11" id="nb11" class="spip_note" title="Footnotes 11" rev="footnote">11</a>] Arthur Lepic: Â«Spencer Abraham, un homme de confiance Â», Voltaire, April 15, 2004</td></tr></tbody></table> =GEORGE W. BUSH’S ECOLOGISTGale Norton, Minister of Ideological Pollutionby Paul LabariqueGale Norton has tow faces: when she addresses voters, she is an ecologist lawyer and a pacifist in favor of the legalization of soft drugs and the elimination of CIA. But when she was appointed Bush’s Minister of Environment, she only dealt with extreme right-wing associations, defended what she called “the industrialists’ constitutional right to pollute” and sabotaged the Kyoto Protocol. She represented American multinational companies’ capacity to express “value-freedom” and guaranteed their impunity.
VOLTAIRE NETWORK | 17 SEPTEMBER 2004 
Gale NortonGale Norton is an authentic product of the American political system which provokes a person’s complete metamorphosis, a political system that changes people’s convictions, reabsorbs that person and “generates” a new one. An example of this is 1971 pacifist John Kerry who would later approve the war against Iraq for “the country must be safe” by all possible means. Gale Norton was in charge of natural reserves during George W. Bush’s neoconservative administration and was educated in a completely different tradition.
Gale Norton was born in 1954 in Wichita, Kansas, in a Republican family quite sensitive to Barry Goldwater’s extremely liberal and conservative discourse. For the Republican candidate of 1964 presidential election (who would lose to Democrat Lyndon Johnson), «extremism in the defense of liberty is not a vice and moderation in the search for justice is not a virtue». [1] This is a political though focused on the concept of individual freedom which would have an impact on Gale Norton.At the beginning of the 70s, the young lady began to study law at the University of Denver where Condoleezza Rice studied too. During the Viet Nam war, she participated temporarily in several pacifists’ demonstrations, just before joining the big extremely liberal ideologues’ family. She joined the Libertarian Party (not a powerful political party in the U.S.) at the end of the 70s and went to Colorado to run the presidential campaign of the Libertarian Party candidate, Mister Ed Clarke, between 1979 and 1980. Clarke’s program was opposed to that of Ronald Reagan and accused the “national security” institutions: he wanted the Department of Energy, the FBI and the CIA to be dismantled. The young lawyer wrote speeches for Mr. Clarke in which she demanded the legalization of marihuana and uncensored pornography. On foreign policy issues, Ed Clarke called for the return of every American soldier abroad [2].
The campaign was backed up by Charles Koch, heir of Koch Industries, whose father Fred Koch, had always financed anti-union movements and had been a prominent member of the national council of anticommunist organization John Birch Society. “Libertarians” were also assisted by the Cato Institute which was subsidized by Charles Koch himself. At the end of the campaign, Ed Clarke won a million votes, a remarkable record for an unknown candidate and an insignificant party.
Gale Norton’s membership in Bush’s team allow us to question the “libertarian” ideology for the powers of the Federal state police were strengthened in an unusual way, regulations against freedom were multiplied, the moral order was reestablished and the soldiers were sent to two foreign wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. It seems that this ideology only helps the captains of industries to implement their own projects without considering ecological or health-related issues. This is what Gale Norton did when she finished Ed Clarke’s campaign. When she graduated in 1979, she was recruited by the Mountain States Legal Foundation, a jurists association based in Denver “devoted to the individual freedom, the right to private property, government control and the free market system”. Its founder, Joseph Coors, made his fortune in one of the three major American breweries and decided to invest his money in the ideological reform of the Right. In 1973, he financed the Heritage Foundation by making a 250 000 dollars contribution and had already subsidized the Committee to Save a Free Congress in 1972 [3].
During this period, extreme conservatives lost many legal cases while their lawyers were also working in favor of the minorities’ civic rights, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the National Organization of Women which succeeded in limiting existent discrimination in the labor market.
On their side, Indians in the U.S. were successful in the recognition of their religious rights and the protection of some of their more sacred sites. By that time, the Congress passed several texts in which “industrial accidents” such as aquifer pollution and the emission of toxic products to the atmosphere were censored. Hence, the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) passed in 1969 demanded the government to make a research on “the impact on the environment” before implementing any project or activity. Other texts defended species or animals to be in danger of extinction whereas the Safe Drinking Water Act and the Clean Air and Clean Water Act protected water and the ecosystem.Joseph CoorsThe extreme Right tried to react against this new movement which included consumers as well as ecologists. The Heritage Foundation worked on the ideological presentation but a structure was needed to make this “solid” in court. In this context, Coors founded in 1977 the Mountain States Legal Foundation (MSLF) and became its first president. This institution, directed by republican James Watt, was immediately described by militant ecologists «as a right-wing and anti-ecologist organization aimed at sabotaging environmental laws» [4].
Actually, this institution has been characterized by its extremely liberal conception on the defense of the environment: for instance, Mountain States Legal Foundation’s jurists have permitted mountain guides to work on the Devil’s Tower, Wyoming, despite its classification as a “national monument” and the fact that the National Park Service wanted to prohibit such a practice to show respect to the Indians who has lived there and considered the place sacred. A survey publish by the Yale Law Journal in 1984 revealed that in 24 litigations taken to court by Mountain States, the positions defended “benefited societies represented in its board of directors, clients of societies represented in its legal board or MSLF’s main fund suppliers”.
Ronald Reagan’s accession to the White House in 1980 meant new perspectives to ecology’s extreme liberals. The director of the Mountain States Legal Foundation, James Watt, was appointed Minister of Environment and dealt with national reserves. Then, Gale Norton was promoted and defended by all possible legal means the positions and interests of the major enterprises on environment related issues. One of her arguments became famous: based on the Fifth Amendment of the Constitution of the U.S. which states that private property can not be hindered by a public use without a “fair compensation”, Gale Norton affirmed that the big industries had to be compensated by the Federal State for their pollution was in favor of the general interest. As she harshly explained: «we should recognize that there is an individual right to pollute or make noise in a given area».
However, this legal argument was eliminated since 1887 by the Supreme Court of the U.S.: in a famous decision it stated that «a government can prevent an owner from using his assets if he harms other individuals and do not pay any compensation for the damage». Ronald Reagan’s conservative revolution challenged this jurisprudence first with Gale Norton’s works and then with writer Richard Epstein. This former law professor wrote that laws on environmental issues, minimal wage, working codes, and even the personal income tax, could be associated with ownership privations and accordingly justify the payment of a financial compensation to the enterprises upon which they are imposed.
Gale Norton’s intelligence is noticeable. In 1983, she was offered a post at Stanford University’s Hoover Institution where she studied the possibilities of avoiding environmental laws and “permissions to pollute” - a new topic by then- which is an idea that can be found in the Clean Air Act proposed during the Bush’s Admintration. In 1984, she became a member of the team who worked for the Department of Environment after James Watts’ forced resignation under the ecologists’ pressure.The Minister of environment, Don Hodel, future leader of the Christian Coalition, gave Gale Norton what she needed to work on a report that would support oil prospecting in a remarkable natural reserve of the Artic region. Then, from 1985 to 1988, the former “libertarian” worked for the Presidential Council on the Quality of the Environment which is a paradoxical position for a former opponent of the Federal State interference on ecological issues...
In 1987, when Ronald Reagan’s second term came to an end, Gale Norton returned to Colorado to start a local political career. Her thesis and ideas were very popular in the industrial world as was shown in 1988 with the foundation of the Wise Use movement, an initiative by Ron Arnold and Alan Gottlieb. 250 delegates closed to the industrial world or lobby were present in that meeting and proposed Alaska be given to oil companies, natural reserves to mining companies and “pro-development” groups such as the Mountain States Legal Foundation be authorized to chase ecologists who injured industrial societies.
Aware of the need of maintaining her presence in this sector, Gale Norton joined the Independence Institute of the libertarian movement, the Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy [5] and, above all, the Federalist Society, a conservative jurists’ organization which included Kenneth Starr, Robert Borke and Edwin Meese, Ronald Reagan’s Secretary of Justice. But what Gale Norton had in mind was to be the Attorney General of the state of Colorado, a post she got in 1991, given to a woman for the first time. Once she was appointed, her policy was neither “libertarian” nor ecological. She favored the death penalty, increased juvenile detention centers, and reduced one third of her administration budget for environmental issues. She even refused to press charges against an enterprise which worked on a gold mine and spilled cyanide in a local river exterminating every form of aquatic life in an area of more than 20 kilometers.
Things went even worse for members of her constituency pressed charges against different societies which had damaged aquifers with heavy metal and she proposed them laughable financial agreements when she refused to act. That was the case of Louisiana-Pacific: whereas Gale Norton refused to press charges against the company, federal authorities decided to interfere and Louisiana-Pacific had to pay a 37 million dollars fine.
Gale Norton’s record as the General Attorney of Colorado was shameful. However, she was reelected in 1995. This time, her campaign was financed by the tobacco industry (Philip Morris, R.J. Reynolds, the Smokeless Tobacco Council and the Tobacco and Candy Political Action Campaign) and, as a result, Colorado did not join the 23 states that were willing to condemn it. She even testified before Congress on the “unconstitutionality” of such a procedure and Denver’s media began to call her «Mrs. Marlboro». She only joined the battle in the last moment, an action by which she got part of the compensations gained.
After that, she opposed positive discrimination programs, especially those to protect disabled people, defended a legislation passed by Colorado voters which discriminated homosexuals and nostalgically recalled the courage of the confederate soldiers of slavery south during the Civil War. Gale Norton went too far and in 1996 she lost senatorial elections despite the invaluable help of political genius Karl Rove [6].
However, Gale Norton kept her contacts in Washington, especially among the most reactionary elements of the Republican Party. In 1988 she founded the Council of Republicans for Environmental Advocacy with the purpose of challenging Martha Marks’ Republicans for Environmental Protection who was considered to be too ecological. In fact, many owners of the major polluting industries were present at the inaugural meeting and were ready to finance the former libertarian’s new toy, especially the Chlorine Chemical Council, the National Coal Council, the Chemical Manufacturers Association and the National Mining Association. Extremely conservative Newt Gringrich became a regular guest, always received as a God by the new Republican group [7].
In 1999, Gale Norton worked at the same time as a jurist for the Brownstein, Hyatt & Farber, P.C law firm. Her job was to defend Houston-based society NL Industries, the former National Lead Co., which became famous for spreading the use of paint with lead and causing the appearance of cancer in young people, said American courts. Gale Norton was not only the National Lead Co.’s lawyer; she was also registered as a lobbyist of this society in Colorado judicial institutions [8].
Gale Norton was also the representative of Saudi society Delta Oil and of BP-Amoco during the unsuccessful negotiations with the Talibans for the construction of an oil pipeline through Afghanistan [9]. This career with the major polluting industrialists was highly applauded by the new Bush Administration. In January 2001, she was appointed Minister of Environment. Since then, her main task has been ... not to do anything that might upset the major polluting industries and, above all, to oppose the Kyoto Protocol. The same thing happens with her assistant secretary, Steven Griles, who sometimes is presented by President Bush as the real head of department. This man has a lobby record too to the eyes of the polluting industries [10]. In addition, industrialists count on the influence of the Federalist Society to which Gale Norton belongs to, and whose founder is Spencer Abraham, former representative of the automobile industry in the Senate and current Secretary of Energy [11].
Gale Norton’s duplicity is a transposition in the political world of the communications methods already adopted in commercialization matters by some transnational companies: it is not about products but about values. In this case, it is not about political decisions but about ecological and freedom values.
Paul Labarique<:ver_imprimer:>  Facebook  Twitter Delicious Seenthis Digg RSS[1] Quoted by Serge Halimi, «Quand la droite américaine pensait l’impensable», Le Monde Diplomatique, January, 2002
[2] Laura Flanders: Bushwomen - Tales of a cynical species, Verso, 2004
[3] Russ Bellant: The Coors Connection - How Coors Family Philanthropy Undermines Democratic Pluralism, Political Research Associates, 1988-1991
[4] To know about the association funding, visit the site MediaTransparency
[5] The Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy is San Francisco’s homologous of New York’s Manhattan Institute
[6] Bushwomen, op.cit
[7] William Booth: «For Norton, a Party Mission», Washington Post, January 8, 2001
[8] « Norton lobbied for superfund target », Associated Press, January 5, 2001
[9] Ahmed Rashid: Taliban: Islam, Oil and the New Great Game in Central Asia, Tauris & Co, 2000
[10] See Adam Werbach: «Son of James Watt», AlterNet, September 17, 2004
[11] Arthur Lepic: «Spencer Abraham, un homme de confiance », Voltaire, April 15, 2004Timothy Michael Tymkovich (born November 2, 1956) is a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_judge" title="Federal judge" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">federal judge</a> on the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Court_of_Appeals_for_the_Tenth_Circuit" title="United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit</a>.<div id="toc" class="toc" style="border: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); padding: 7px; display: table; zoom: 1; background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249);"><div id="toctitle" style="direction: ltr; text-align: center;"><h2 style="margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border: none; display: inline; line-height: 1.3; background: none;">Contents</h2>  [<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_Tymkovich#" id="togglelink" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">hide</a>] </div><ul style="line-height: 1.6; list-style-type: none; margin: 0.3em 0px; padding: 0px; list-style-image: none;"><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-1" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_Tymkovich#Background" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">1 Background</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-2" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_Tymkovich#Tenth_Circuit_nomination_and_confirmation" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">2 Tenth Circuit nomination and confirmation</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-3" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_Tymkovich#Notable_Cases" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">3 Notable Cases</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-4" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_Tymkovich#References" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">4 References</a></li><li class="toclevel-1 tocsection-5" style="margin-bottom: 0.1em;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_Tymkovich#External_links" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">5 External links</a></li></ul></div><h2 style="font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); line-height: 1.3; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">Background[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Timothy_Tymkovich&action=edit&section=1&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: Background" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">edit</a>]</h2>Born in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denver,Colorado" title="Denver, Colorado" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Denver, Colorado</a>, Tymkovich received a <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bachelor_of_Arts" title="Bachelor of Arts" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">B.A.</a> from <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_College" title="Colorado College" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Colorado College</a> in 1979 and his <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juris_Doctor" title="Juris Doctor" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">J.D.</a> from the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_Colorado_at_Boulder" title="University of Colorado at Boulder" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">University of Colorado</a> College of Law in 1982. He then clerked for the Hon. William Erickson, Chief Justice of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_Supreme_Court" title="Colorado Supreme Court" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Colorado Supreme Court</a>, from 1982 to 1983.From 1983 to 1991, Tymkovich worked in private practice in Denver and Washington, D.C. In 1991, Colorado Attorney General <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gale_Norton" title="Gale Norton" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Gale Norton</a> appointed him <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Solicitor_General_of_Colorado&action=edit&redlink=1" class="new" title="Solicitor General of Colorado (page does not exist)" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">Solicitor General</a> of the State of Colorado. Tymkovich served in that position until 1996, arguing several cases in front of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S.Supreme_Court" title="U.S. Supreme Court" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">U.S. Supreme Court</a>. The most notable of these was the Romer v. Evans case, in which he unsuccessfully represented Colorado in its argument that Colorado's Amendment 2 (which revoked local legal protections for members of the LGBT community) was not a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment's Equal Protection Clause. He then returned to private practice in Denver.<h2 style="font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); line-height: 1.3; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">Tenth Circuit nomination and confirmation[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Timothy_Tymkovich&action=edit&section=2&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: Tenth Circuit nomination and confirmation" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">edit</a>]</h2>President <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_W.Bush" title="George W. Bush" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">George W. Bush</a> nominated Tymkovich to the seat on the Tenth Circuit on January 7, 2003. President <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Clinton" title="Bill Clinton" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Bill Clinton</a> previously had nominated <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christine_Arguello" title="Christine Arguello" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Christine Arguello</a>for the seat, but she never received a hearing or a vote from the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S.Senate" title="U.S. Senate" class="mw-redirect" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">U.S. Senate</a>. Tymkovich was confirmed swiftly by the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senate" title="United States Senate" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">United States Senate</a> in a <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=108&session=1&vote=00113" style="text-decoration-line: none; padding-right: 13px; background-image: linear-gradient(transparent, transparent), url(" data:image="data:image" svg="svg" xml="xml" base64="base64" pd94bwwgdmvyc2lvbj0ims4wiiblbmnvzgluzz0ivvrgltgipz48c3znihhtbg5zpsjodhrwoi8vd3d3lnczlm9yzy8ymdawl3n2zyigd2lkdgg9ijewiibozwlnahq9ijewij48zyb0cmfuc2zvcm09inryyw5zbgf0zsgtodi2ljqyosatnjk4ljc5mskipjxyzwn0ihdpzhropsi1ljk4miigagvpz2h0psi1ljk4miiged0iodi2ljkyosiget0inzayljmwosigzmlsbd0ii2zmziigc3ryb2tlpsijmdzjii8="PD94bWwgdmVyc2lvbj0iMS4wIiBlbmNvZGluZz0iVVRGLTgiPz48c3ZnIHhtbG5zPSJodHRwOi8vd3d3LnczLm9yZy8yMDAwL3N2ZyIgd2lkdGg9IjEwIiBoZWlnaHQ9IjEwIj48ZyB0cmFuc2Zvcm09InRyYW5zbGF0ZSgtODI2LjQyOSAtNjk4Ljc5MSkiPjxyZWN0IHdpZHRoPSI1Ljk4MiIgaGVpZ2h0PSI1Ljk4MiIgeD0iODI2LjkyOSIgeT0iNzAyLjMwOSIgZmlsbD0iI2ZmZiIgc3Ryb2tlPSIjMDZjIi8" pgc="PGc" phbhdgggzd0ittgzms4xotqgnjk4ljc5mwg1ljiznhy1ljm5mwwtms41nzegms41ndutms4zms0xljmxltiunzi1idiunzi1ltiunjg5ltiunjg5idiuoda4ltiuoda4lteumzexlteumzexeiigzmlsbd0iiza2ziivpjxwyxroigq9ik04mzuundi0idy5os43otvsljaymia0ljg4ns0xljgxny0xljgxny0yljg4msayljg4ms0xljiyoc0xljiyocayljg4ms0yljg4ms0xljg1ms0xljg1mxoiigzpbgw9iinmzmyilz48l2c="PHBhdGggZD0iTTgzMS4xOTQgNjk4Ljc5MWg1LjIzNHY1LjM5MWwtMS41NzEgMS41NDUtMS4zMS0xLjMxLTIuNzI1IDIuNzI1LTIuNjg5LTIuNjg5IDIuODA4LTIuODA4LTEuMzExLTEuMzExeiIgZmlsbD0iIzA2ZiIvPjxwYXRoIGQ9Ik04MzUuNDI0IDY5OS43OTVsLjAyMiA0Ljg4NS0xLjgxNy0xLjgxNy0yLjg4MSAyLjg4MS0xLjIyOC0xLjIyOCAyLjg4MS0yLjg4MS0xLjg1MS0xLjg1MXoiIGZpbGw9IiNmZmYiLz48L2c" pc9npjwvc3znpg="=" background-position="background-position" xmlns:data="data">58-41 vote</a> less than two months later on April 1, 2003, and he received his commission the same day. Tymkovich replaced Judge <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Carbone_Porfilio" title="John Carbone Porfilio" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">John Carbone Porfilio</a>, who took <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senior_status" title="Senior status" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">senior status</a>.<h2 style="font-weight: normal; margin: 1em 0px 0.25em; overflow: hidden; padding: 0px; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(170, 170, 170); line-height: 1.3; background: none rgb(255, 255, 255);">Notable Cases[<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Timothy_Tymkovich&action=edit&section=3&editintro=Template:BLP_editintro" title="Edit section: Notable Cases" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">edit</a>]</h2>Lewis v. Burger King, No. 09-2160 (10th Cir. 2009) -- In an unpublished opinion written by Judge Tymkovich, the Tenth Circuit held thatanimals lack standing to sue.United States v. McCane, 573 F.3d 1037 (10th Cir. 2009) -- Markice McCane was convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1). On appeal, he contended that the felon-in-possession statute was unconstitutional in light of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/District_of_Columbia_v.Heller" title="District of Columbia v. Heller" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">District of Columbia v. Heller</a>, 128 S. Ct. 2783 (2008). But the Tenth Circuit affirmed the conviction after noting the statement in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/District_of_Columbia_v.Heller" title="District of Columbia v. Heller" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Heller</a> that "nothing in our opinion should be taken to cast doubt on longstanding prohibitions on the possession of firearms by felons." 128 S.Ct. at 2816-17. In a concurring opinion, Judge Tymkovich expressed concern that the statement “short-circuits at least some of the analysis and refinement that would otherwise take place in the lower courts,” particularly since the statement was based on a possibly questionable premise—that the felony-in-possession prohibition was longstanding.Guttman v. Khalsa, No. 10-2167 (10th Cir. 2012) -- Dr. Stuart Guttman brought suit under Title II of the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Americans_with_Disabilities_Act_of_1990" title="Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990</a> after the New Mexico Board of Medical Examiners revoked his medical license. In an opinion written by Judge Tymkovich, the Tenth Circuit held that the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleventh_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution" title="Eleventh Amendment to the United States Constitution" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Eleventh Amendment</a> protected States from lawsuits based on professional licensing decisions.United States v. Strandlof, No. 13-1358 (10th Cir. 2012) -- Rick Glen Strandlof was convicted of violating the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stolen_Valor_Act_of_2005" title="Stolen Valor Act of 2005" style="text-decoration-line: none; background: none;">Stolen Valor Act</a>, 18 U.S.C. § 704(b), which makes it illegal to falsely claim to have received a military award or honor. In an opinion written by Judge Tymkovich, the Tenth Circuit held that the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution" title="First Amendment to the United States Constitution" style="text-decoration-line: none; background-image: none; background-attachment: initial; background-size: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial;">First Amendment</a> does not protect knowingly false statements of fact. In United States v. Alvarez (2012), the Supreme Court held that the Act was unconstitutional, although a majority of justices held that lies about easily verifiable facts (e.g., receiving military honors) are outside the core of First Amendment protection.<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timothy_Tymkovich#cite_note-1" style="text-decoration-line: none; white-space: nowrap; background: none;">[1]</a>Hobby Lobby Stores v. Sebelius, No. 12-6294 (10th Cir. 2013) -- For-profit corporations Hobby Lobby and Mardel Christian Bookstores could assert religious freedom as "persons" under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.<<a rel="nofollow" class="external free" href="http://www.ca10.uscourts.gov/opinions/12/12-6294.pdf" style="text-decoration-line: none; padding-right: 18px; background-image: url(" http="http" upload.wikimedia.org="upload.wikimedia.org" wikipedia="wikipedia" commons="commons" icons-mini-file_acrobat.gif="Icons-mini-file_acrobat.gif" background-position="background-position" background-size="background-size" initial="initial" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat" background-attachment="background-attachment" background-origin="background-origin" background-clip="background-clip">http://www.ca10.uscourts.gov/opinions/12/12-6294.pdf</a>>===</div></div></div></div></div>