PRESS RELEASE September 14, 1987 Page Two low income black citizens even though the federal government had participated in the discrimination. He has also criticized affirmative action remedies for employment discrimination. On sex discrimination . . . In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court recently held that sexual harassment in the workplace is sexbased discrimination. Bork disagreed with this decision, explaining that it is too hard to know when women welcome male sexual advances and when they do not. He has also written that women, unlike racial minorities, have no constitutional protection against laws that discriminate against them. In 1984 Bork held that in Oil, Chemical & Atomic Workers International Union v. American Cyanamid Co. that an employer had not violated the Occupational and Safety and Health Act by instituting a policy requiring female employees between the ages of 16 and 50 to be surgically sterilized to hold certain jobs. Bork also supports the re-introduction of some religion into the public schools. The Constitution defines the role of the Senate as that of a co-equal in the selection of Justices--the separation of powers check the authority of the Executive branch. One function of the Senate is to prevent the packing of the court whose members serve for live--longer than the term of any President. Americans expect judges to administer law in the name of justice. The Senate has the obligation to reject the nomination of Robert Bork in the name of justice. September 14, 1987 Senators Durenberger and Boschwitz: My name is Rick Scott; I am testifying on behalf of Minnesota AFSCME, the state affiliate of the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees. We submit to you that the U.S. Senate has not only a right but an obligation to consider the judicial philosophy of a Presidential nominee for the Supreme Court. From the very first, Supreme Court appointments have been a joint act of the President and the Senate. Each must be satisfied with all of the qualifications of an individual to merit appointment. Measured by this standard, Mr. Bork does not deserve your confirming vote. He stands far to the right of the civil and human rights views of the vast majority of Minnesotans of both political parties. Mr. Bork is often referred to as a "strict constructionist" on Constitutional issues. Far from being a strict constructionist, on the matter of incividual rights he stands the Constitution on end. Bork rejects the concept of an individual right to privacy - - central to many key Supreme Court decisions of our era - - - with the oft-quoted remark that "he can find no such right enumerated in the Constitution." But the Constitution says, in the 9th Amendment, that the enumeration of certain rights in that document should not be construed to deny the rights retained by the people. Bork is radically un-Constitutional in rejecting residual rights enjoyed by the American people -2 On issues relating to the working men and women of our land, we find Bork to be so pro-business and anti-labor that he makes the Reagan administration look like labor's friend! Two cases point up this anti-labor stance of Bork. His The first case is one in which Bork backed the firing of two employees for passing out union sign-up cards to co-workers. He ruled that talking union would "disrupt the workplace - a standard he invented for the case. decision helped override one of the few pro-worker rulings of the pro-business Reagan N.L.R.B. The The second case is one in which he supported an employers right to require female employees to be sterilized or lose their job. The employer, American Cyanimide, discovered an increase in spontaneous abortions in their work site and rather than clean up the site to create a healthy work environment, they took the short circuit route of requiring employee sterilization. workers union, O.C.A. W., grieved the case and eventually it wound up in Judge Bork's court. There Bork ruled in favor of the employer over the objections of the Reagan Department of Labor. We consider this ruling not only antilabor, but anti-life and inhumane as well. In conclusion, we think Robert Bork is far to the right of our Minnesota political tradition. His nomination should be rejected. Thank you. BPW minnesota Minnesota Federation of Business and Professional Women's Clubs, Inc. PACE TWO SEPTEMBER 14, 1987 THE BUSINESS AND PROFESSIONAL MEMBERS IN THE STATE OF MINNESOTA |