As though it weren't enough that Nuclear Republicans are ignoring what makes the "constitutional option" constitutional, and then throwing out the rulebook to make it work, they're also selling the theory to the public by claiming that even "liberal" law professors support it.

In a memo dated February 28th and widely circulated to members of the press, C. Boyden Gray, formerly White House counsel to the first President Bush, attempted to bolster his own questionable constitutional interpretation of the nuclear option with quotes taken from three well-known legal scholars: Susan Low Bloch and Mark Tushnet of Georgetown University, and Cass Sunstein of the University of Chicago.

In each instance, Gray made certain to set up the quotes by establishing that they came from "liberals" or a "prominent Democratic strategist." In two of the three cases, Gray fails to cite to any actual source for the remarks he attributes to these professors, and in all three he leaves out context critical to understanding their comments, in at least one case, completely reversing the writer's intent.

You have seriously misrepresented my views. In a February 28, 2005 memo to journalists on behalf of the Committee for Justice, you argue that the Senate's use of the filibuster against judicial nominations is unconstitutional. In so doing, you suggest I said such use in unconstitutional. In fact, I have never said such a thing. On the contrary, in the article you quote (but never cite), I said precisely the opposite, explicitly distinguishing the Senate filibuster from the House Rule that I was criticizing.

Given all that's happened over the past few weeks - Tom DeLay's House power play with regard to the crisis in the Ethics Committee, his tag-team effort with Frist in the Terri Schiavo circus, the extraordinary extent to which Republicans have gone to choke off debate in the House, and now the threat of the same in the Senate thanks to a nuclear option without any solid basis in constitutional theory - the overreaching of the Republican Congress is nearing critical mass. Now, to top it all off, not only are they throwing out the rules and abandoning the constitutional underpinnings of their arguments, but they're using once-respected names in the political and legal community to mislead the press and the public into believing that even "liberal" law professors agree with them.

Surprise, surprise.

Toss into the mix the growing chorus of voices speaking out against the USA PATRIOT Act, the treatment of so-called "enemy combatants" at Guantánamo, and the use of torture and "extraordinary rendition" apparently endorsed by the current Attorney General and the Department of Justice, and ordinary, non-wonk Americans might rightly begin to wonder how long they're willing to stand for this outrageous cover for the assault on our Constitution.

C. Boyden Gray, Committee for Justice
Kay R. Daly, Coalition for a Fair Judiciary
Harvey Tettlebaum, Republican National Lawyers Association
David A. Keene, American Conservative Union
Gary L. Bauer, American Values
Grover Norquist, Americans for Tax Reform
Paul Weyrich, Free Congress Foundation
Dr. James Dobson, Focus on the Family
James D. Daly, Focus on the Family
Tony Perkins, Family Research Council
James J. Fotis, Law Enforcement Alliance of America
Chuck Colson, Prison Fellowship Ministries
Mark Earley, Prison Fellowship Ministries
Connie Mackey, Family Research Council
Lisa DePasquale, Clare Booth Luce Policy Institute
L. Brent Bozell III, Conservative Victory Committee
Dr. William A. Donohue, Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights
Jim Backlin, Christian Coalition of America
Dr. Carl Herbster, AdvanceUSA
Ray Ruddy, Gerard Health Foundation
Kurt Entsminger, Care Net
Dr. Virginia Armstrong, Eagle Forum's Court Watch
Duane Parde, ALEC (American Legislative Exchange Council)
Matt Kibbe, Freedom Works
Peter A. Samuelson, Americans United for Life
Clarke D. Forsythe, Esq. AUL's Project on Law and Bioethics
Richard Land, Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission
Dr. Barrett Duke, Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission
Dr. John C. Eastman, The Claremont Institute Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence
Jay Sekulow, American Center for Law and Justice
James Bopp, Jr., James Madison Center for Free Speech
Samuel B. Casey, Christian Legal Society
Kelly Shackelford. Liberty Legal Institute
Mathew D. Staver, Liberty Counsel
Alan E. Sears, Alliance Defense Fund
Roy Innis, Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)
Niger Innis, Congress of Racial Equality (CORE)

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