schwartz, stephen esq
<font size="4" face="Times New Roman">trump nom fail --></font><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></div><div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">=</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="https://www.alternet.org/2020/02/trumps-latest-judicial-nominee-wants-to-abolish-social-security/" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" color="#000000">https://www.alternet.org/2020/02/trumps-latest-judicial-nominee-wants-to-abolish-social-security/</font></a></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">220</font></div><div style=""><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">no lnx</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Trump’s latest judicial nominee wants to abolish social security</b></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Written by Joan McCarter / Daily Kos February 26, 2020</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">There’s another deplorable nominee on Mitch McConnell’s conveyor belt: Stephen Schwartz, nominated to the U.S. Court of Federal Claims and pending in the Judiciary Committee</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">. This is impeached president Donald Trump’s second go at having Schwartz appointed to this court, which hears claims against the federal government. Trump wants Schwartz there because</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> he’s argued that Social Security should be abolished because being elderly and disabled “is a natural aspect of the human condition” so those people shouldn’t get any assistance.</span></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Those are recent views from the too-young Schwartz, who wrote them 15 years ago in the student newspaper at Yale. When he was an undergraduate. He also “wrote that the departments of Transportation, Agriculture and Education lack a ‘constitutional basis,’ and that Social Security benefits were intended to prevent ‘outright starvation’ but had become a ‘standard component of most retirement programs.'” Pull yourself up by your bootstraps, you lollygagging 80 year olds.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style=""><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Of course that’s not all. Schwartz has also been in on legal efforts to disenfranchise African American voters in North Carolina and in Virginia’s public bathroom wars, trying to make transgender students’ bladders explode</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">. </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">As a pet attorney for the Koch network in its Cause of Action institute, he has sued the federal government multiple times. “There are lots of circumstances today in America where agencies of the federal government exercise their discretion in ways that are terrible for personal liberty, for economic freedoms,” he said in an interview during one of those suits.</span></font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Because personal liberty and economic freedom mean having to find a job when you’re in your 70s or 80s or 90s so you can eat. “Schwartz is another example of Trump’s ideal nominee for the bench: a conservative ideologue who is determined to undermine civil rights and federal agencies,” Vanita Gupta, who headed the Obama Justice Department’s civil rights division, told The Washington Post.</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Schwartz faced stiff opposition in 2017 from a variety of quarters, and his nomination eventually languished as the committee and Mitch McConnell focused on more critical seats. This appointment needs to be squelched again.</b></font></div></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"></font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">=</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Schwartz graduated from Yale in 2005,
and he received his J.D. from the University
of Chicago Law School in 2008.12 He
clerked for Judge Jerry E. Smith on the
United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth
Circuit13 and then worked as an associate at
Kirkland & Ellis LLP.14 While at Kirkland, two
prominent cases he was involved in were
one in which he represented raisin farmers
who sued the Department of Agriculture
in Horne v. Department of Agriculture,
576 U.S. _ (2015), and another in which</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">he represented a New York State prisoner in
solitary confinement alleging violations of his
due process rights. See Proctor v. LeClaire, 715
F. 3d 402 (2d Cir. 3013). Schwartz left Kirkland
after spending six years there to work as
counsel at the Cause of Action Institute (“CoA
Institute”).
The CoA Institute is an ultraconservative group
funded by the Koch Brothers.15 While Schwartz
was counsel at CoA Institute, the organization
filed multiple controversial suits against the
government, including one against John Kerry
and David Ferriero for failing to preserve
former Secretary Clinton’s e-mails16 and one
against 11 federal agencies and the Office of
the White House Counsel for alleged delays
in responding to Freedom of Information Act
requests.17 While at CoA, Schwartz served
as pro-bono counsel in a suit filed by New
England fishermen challenging regulations
promulgated by the National Marine Fisheries
Service requiring certain commercial vessels to
carry at-sea monitors to ensure compliance with
fishing quotas and in a suit filed by a business
owner alleged to have violated the Fair Labor
Standards Act. See Goethel v. Pritzker, No.
15-CV-497-JL, 2016 WL 4076831, (D.N.H. July
29, 2016); Rhea Lana, Inc. v. Dep’t of Labor, 824
F.3d 1023 (D.C. Cir. 2016).
In 2016, Schwartz became an associate at
Schaerr Duncan LLP, and was promoted to
partner in 2017.18 <b>During his time at Schaerr
Duncan, Schwartz has continued to litigate
cases opposing fundamental protections.</b></font></div><div><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">... </font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">=
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</font></div><div><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span id="m_8805369242373687150" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"> D.C. — Alliance for Justice (AFJ) Friday released a report on the record of Stephen Schwartz, whom Donald Trump has nominated for a seat on the Court of Federal Claims. AFJ President Nan Aron released <a href="http://rethinkmedia.pr-optout.com/Tracking.aspx?Data=HHL%3d8.5%2f82-%3eLCE18-4286-GLCE17.6&RE=MC&RI=4558855&Preview=False&DistributionActionID=50401&Action=Follow+Link" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://RethinkMedia.pr-optout.com/Tracking.aspx?Data%3DHHL%253d8.5%252f82-%253eLCE18-4286-GLCE17.6%26RE%3DMC%26RI%3D4558855%26Preview%3DFalse%26DistributionActionID%3D50401%26Action%3DFollow%2BLink&source=gmail&ust=1500742043497000&usg=AFQjCNFaQpxX9vUncy8h1_YE6H4I9_Uvdg" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">the following statement</a>:</font></span></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Stephen Schwartz certainly fits the new mold for federal judicial nominees being put forward by Donald Trump: ideologically ultraconservative; hostile to environmental protection and the rights of workers, people of color, LGBTQ Americans, and women; and unusually young – 34 – which means he is being groomed to serve on the bench for decades. His nomination is part of a clear strategy to stack the bench with rigid right-wingers for years to come. We strongly oppose the confirmation of yet another individual who cannot be trusted to fairly apply the law and uphold the rights of all Americans.”</font></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Among other things, the AFJ report notes:</font></p><ul style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; list-style: square inside;"><li style="background: transparent; margin: 0px; padding: 2px 0px 2px 10px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 15px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;">Although his professional life so far has been short, </span>Schwartz has already carved out a career based almost entirely on attacking critical legal protections for women, immigrants, transgender youth, people of color, and the environment.</font></li><li style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; margin: 0px; padding: 2px 0px 2px 10px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 15px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style=""><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">In 2016, Schwartz argued on behalf of North Carolina in a failed attempt to get the Supreme Court to review the Fourth Circuit’s ruling striking down a <b>restrictive voter law.</b> That North Carolina law was described by the Fourth Circuit as targeting African-American voters “with almost surgical precision.</span>”</font></li><li style="background: transparent; margin: 0px; padding: 2px 0px 2px 10px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 15px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Schwartz’s extreme legal views undermining transgender rights are prominent in his 2017 representation of the Gloucester County (Virginia) School Board, where as co-counsel he drafted a merits brief arguing that Gavin Grimm, a transgender high school boy, should not be allowed to use the men’s restroom.</font></li><li style="background: transparent; margin: 0px; padding: 2px 0px 2px 10px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 15px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Schwartz is representing the State of Louisiana as it fights challenges to numerous bills that severely restrict access to abortion care.</font></li><li style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; margin: 0px; padding: 2px 0px 2px 10px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 15px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="">Schwartz filed a brief on behalf of <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Florida Governor Jeb Bush, in support of Arizona’s decision to defend its law denying driver’s licenses to Deferred Action Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients.</span></font></li><li style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; margin: 0px; padding: 2px 0px 2px 10px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 15px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="">While in <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">private practice, Schwartz repeatedly litigated cases challenging environmental protections. Most notably, he worked extensively on behalf of BP following the devastating Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.</span></font></li><li style="background: transparent; margin: 0px; padding: 2px 0px 2px 10px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 15px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Schwartz filed an amicus brief on behalf of four publishing companies, including the Christian Booksellers Association, in the controversial Supreme Court case <em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent;">Burwell v. <b>Hobby Lobby</b></em><b>.</b> The publishing companies, like Hobby Lobby, were for-profit corporations seeking to invalidate the requirement in the Affordable Care Act that employers provide insurance coverage for contraception.</font></li><li style="background: transparent; margin: 0px; padding: 2px 0px 2px 10px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; line-height: 15px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Schwartz served as <b>counsel for a business owner alleged to have violated the Fair Labor Standards Act.</b> Rhea Lana ran a for-profit franchise that sold used children’s toys, clothing and furnishings. Rather than pay its employees, Rhea Lana relied on “volunteer” mothers and grandmothers as salespersons. The Department sent Rhea Lana a letter informing it that its failure to pay salespeople violated the law. Schwartz represented Rhea Lana in its challenge to the Department.</font></li></ul><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Read the full report online here: <a href="https://afj.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/AFJ-Schwartz-Report.pdf" target="blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://afj.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/AFJ-Schwartz-Report.pdf&source=gmail&ust=1500742043497000&usg=AFQjCNGNWbFrGeNn7DKnEmt6TYcE7ejPxQ" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: transparent; text-decoration-line: none;">https://afj.org/wp-content/<wbr />uploads/2017/07/AFJ-Schwartz-<wbr />Report.pdf</a></font></p><p style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 10px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
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