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JW's Corruption Chronicles Liberal Senators Deny Justice to JW, American People The battle over Miguel Estrada's nomination to the federal bench is now over. Estrada recently withdrew his name from consideration after extreme liberals in the Senate staged a filibuster, refusing to allow an up or down vote on his nomination as is required by the Constitution. And so, while a small, but determined minority in the Senate emerged victorious in its standoff against President Bush, JW and the American people, especially those who seek justice, have suffered a grave loss. Estrada is just one of many of Bush Administration judicial nominees who have been unconstitutionally denied an up or down vote by liberals in the U.S. Senate. And given the critical shortage of judges, this latest tactic employed by liberals in the Senate is, in effect, denying justice to JW, its clients and everyone else who awaits justice. Judicial Watch is second only to the U.S. government as the entity with the largest number of cases pending before the federal courts of the District of Columbia, and has launched a lawsuit against the Senate for violating the Constitution. "The filibuster is an extra, unconstitutional requirement imposed by Senate rules and Estrada's withdrawal shows that it does real damage to our judicial system," noted JW President Tom Fitton. Blowing Smoke House Majority Whip Roy Blunt (R-MO) raised ethical questions recently when he tried to slip language into a homeland security bill that would have aided the tobacco industry according to the Washington Post. It turns out that Blunt's girlfriend, Abigail Perlman, is a major tobacco lobbyist for the parent company of Phillip Morris. And his son, Andrew B. Blunt, works for Phillip Morris in Missouri. Blunt's seemingly innocuous provision would have made it more difficult to sell tobacco products over the Internet, and would have taken a hard line against the sale of so-called contraband cigarettes. Blunt's efforts would have helped Phillip Morris' bottom line. In response to public pressure, the company recently instituted a policy that will bar Perlman from lobbying Blunt. Army Islamic Chaplain Charged as Spy Proving once again that it doesn't pay to play nice with terrorists, an Army Islamic Chaplain was recently charged with espionage, aiding the enemy and spying. Captain James J. Yee was dispatched by the U.S. Army to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to "attend to the spiritual needs" of the terrorists imprisoned there, according to the Washington Times. Yee, a 1990 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, NY, had unlimited, private access to the enemy combatants being held by the Pentagon. It is unknown how much damage he may have done to the Bush Administration's efforts to defeat terrorism. Yee, born a Christian, converted to Islam and left the Army in the mid 1990s. He underwent religious training in Syria before rejoining the Army as a Chaplain. The U.S. Army relied upon the recommendations of radical Muslims in hiring Yee, as they have done with other Muslim Chaplains.
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