WASHINGTON -- A judge whose nomination to the federal bench is stalled over her appearance at a lesbian commitment ceremony in Massachusetts says she attended as a friend, not to give legal sanction.
The nomination of Michigan Court of Appeals Judge Janet T. Neff to be a US District judge is on hold because Senator Sam Brownback, a Kansas Republican, is not satisfied with her response to questions about her views on same-sex marriage, a spokesman for the senator said yesterday.
Neff's status has been in limbo since last month, when Brownback used a technique that allows a lone senator to stall a nomination. Brownback wanted to know whether there was anything illegal or improper about the 2002 ceremony and how Neff's actions might shape her judicial views .
In an Oct. 12 letter to Brownback, released yesterday by the Senate Judiciary Committee, Neff said a minister presided over the ceremony, and she insisted her attendance would not affect her ability to act fairly as a federal judge.
"The ceremony, which was entirely private, took place in Massachusetts, where I had no authority to act in any official capacity and where, in any event, the ceremony had no legal effect," Neff wrote. Massachusetts did not legalize same-sex marriage until 2004.
Neff said her family had lived next door to one of the women for more than two decades.
So Senator Brownback is going to hinder this judge's career for political purposes. What an asshole. Details here from the AP via the Boston Globe.