Judge Who Made Yesterday's Anti-Gay Ruling Has Shady Past?
In an April 2003 story in the Oregonian entitled, "Smith's Pick Stirs Gay-Rights Controversy", it talks about the now District Court Judge Michael Mosman as possibly having an anti-gay side.
From the Oregonian:
What once seemed like a slam-dunk nomination for the federal judiciary in Oregon could turn into a test of political wills for Oregon's two senators, Republican Gordon Smith and Democrat Ron Wyden.
Michael Mosman, the U.S. attorney in Portland, is Smith's choice for a vacant district judgeship and is still regarded as a favorite of the Bush White House. But recent revelations of Mosman's views on gay rights, first expressed in 1986, have delayed his selection and what otherwise would likely be easy Senate confirmation.
Now, gay-rights groups are demanding explanations from Mosman, putting Smith's carefully crafted reputation as a friend to the homosexual community on the line. Wyden, meanwhile, could be the only defense against a filibuster by the Senate's increasingly restive Democratic minority if he chooses to support Mosman's nomination.
The senators have cooperated in filling the vacancy created when U.S. District Judge Robert E. Jones took senior status in 2000. But they could face rough going if national gay-rights groups actively oppose Mosman's nomination.
"If the gay-rights community makes this nomination a litmus test, then quite frankly, they're in the middle of it and they're going to have to take sides," said Jim Moore, an independent political analyst in Portland.
It's unclear whether that will happen. But gay-rights activists say they're still waiting for answers from Mosman.
"What I want him to show is that he has come to understand that relationships need to be judged on their quality, not whether they are gay or straight," said Roey Thorpe, executive director of Basic Rights Oregon, an advocacy group in Portland.
Mosman, 46, emerged as the top candidate in January after Ray Baum, a lawyer for Smith's family business, withdrew. But controversy erupted in March, when Basic Rights disclosed Mosman's role in a pivotal 1986 case, Bowers V. Hardwick (read about the case on Wikipedia here).
The group uncovered and presented to Smith two "bench memos" that Mosman had written as a clerk to Supreme Court Justice Lewis F. Powell Jr. Mosman urged Powell to uphold Georgia's anti-sodomy law against a claim that police invaded a man's privacy by arresting him in his home.
Read the entire story here.
Labels: basic rights oregon, domestic partnership, federal court, gay rights, oregon
This entry was posted
on Saturday, December 29, 2007 at 4:00 AM.
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ByI'm getting tired of respecting the humanity of people who's limited vision and thoughtless actions hurt so many other people so directly.
Michael Mosman is a waste of flesh. Someone should start encouraging all the idiots to kill themselves.
By
Is Michael Mosman the only Federal Judge in Portland? Can somebody please explain how he got the case??
By
There's always a past, isn't there...bones in the closet. Shadows in the corners...covering up and hiding. Mosman is no exception. What a weenie.
By
I would expect him to rule this way, after all he is another homophobic religious conservative piece of rat crap. He should be very happy he ruled in favor of his homophobic religious conservative supporters. Homophobic religious conservatives all over the world assassinate their opponents. We, on the other hand, will as usual continue to wage a humanistic battle. But if he should contract an incurable disease from a loved one and die a long and painful death I will not mourn him.
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