Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Opposes Myers

Citing his limited experience and his unblemished record of protecting the special interests over the public interest, the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR), the nation’s oldest, largest and most diverse civil and human rights coalition, declared its opposition to Senate confirmation of William G. Myers III for a lifetime seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. In a letter to Senators Arlen Specter and Pat Leahy, LCCR joined a coalition of nearly 200 disability rights, women’s rights, human rights, senior citizens, conservation, and Native American organizations in their opposition.

“Rewarding William Myers’ lifetime loyalty to special interests with a lifetime appointment to the federal bench would be slap in the face of all Americans who care about protecting civil rights and the environment,” said LCCR Executive Director Wade Henderson. “He is a terrible choice for the Ninth Circuit. He is not only uniquely unqualified for the job, but a clear and present threat to a broad range of civil rights, labor, health, disability and environmental protections.”

Myers has devoted his career, including a stint at the U.S. Interior Department, to lobbying for cattle and mining interests, has very little trial experience, has produced no significant legal scholarship, and has never been a judge.

“The only thing more troubling than what his record lacks is what it contains,” said LCCR Deputy Director Nancy Zirkin. “Myers believes property rights should be equated with the rights to free speech and equal protection and seeks to limit Congress’s authority in such a way that it would impact the civil rights of all Americans.

“He has made a living off of promoting mining and cattle interests at the expense of the environment and the rights of Native Americans,” Zirkin added. “His continued and abject loyalty to the cattle and mining lobby while at the Interior Department suggests shockingly poor judgment and an inability, or unwillingness, to put aside his personal biases.”

In more than two years as the Interior Department’s top attorney, Myers produced just two formal legal opinions and one “correction” of his second opinion. The first reversed a detailed opinion by his predecessor, dismantled federal laws that protect public lands and paved the way for a Canadian mining company to build a strip mine on a sacred Native American site. His only other formal opinion, and its subsequent correction, undermined bipartisan work to harness free market economics for conservation efforts.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit has the largest jurisdiction of any appellate court, overseeing nine western states (Alaska, Ariz., Calif., Hawaii, Idaho, Nev., Mont., Ore., Wash.) and two territories. It considers more environmental cases than any other federal appeals court and hears the bulk of cases impacting Indian tribes. The Ninth Circuit is home to 430 Indian tribes and contains 489 million acres of public lands.
“There is no room on the federal bench for someone like William Myers,” said Henderson. “He has again and again proved that he is unable to set aside his special interest bias to work on behalf of the broader public interest.”