Scott Johnson
Power Line
5/3/2011
A knowledgeable source directs our attention to Rhode Island federal judicial nominee John J. McConnell, Jr. He writes:
Harry Reid is expected to file cloture on Jack McConnell’s nomination to serve on the U.S. District Court for the district of Rhode Island, setting up an imminent cloture vote. In light of this development, I wanted to bring a few background items to your attention you might find of note.
First: and foremost, the guy lied during his confirmation hearing.
In response to a question posed by Senator Kyl regarding his familiarity with a set of stolen, privileged documents that his law firm obtained during their case against lead paint manufacturers, McConnell claimed that he only saw the documents “briefly” and was not familiar with them “in any fashion.”
Just a few months later, however, McConnell sang a different tune when testifying in a deposition, saying that he was he the first attorney to review the documents in question, that he had drafted a newspaper editorial citing information that appeared to come from the documents, and that portions of the documents were incorporated into a brief filed under his signature.
Despite this obvious contradiction, McConnell unequivocally stood by his prior statement in his March 2011 answers to additional written questions from Senator Lee.
Second: The guy was the DIRECTOR of Planned Parenthood Rhode Island for four years, has been a member of Amnesty International since 1989, and worked with ACORN in convincing municipalities to bring lead-paint lawsuits.
Third: McConnell pioneered the practice of “soliciting public officials to bring lawsuits in which the private lawyers are paid a percentage of any judgment or settlement.” (“Fools for Motley,” Wall Street Journal, Apr. 24, 2009)…
…Bottom line, this guy doesn’t deserve a lifetime appointment to a park bench, let alone in a federal district court. . .
Read the entire article at Power Line. Then contact your Senators.
