Let 'No' Mean 'No'

I understand that you are being evasive and denying that you are part of a block that is on the nomination of Mr. Haynes. Weather you are blocking his nomination or not, I support such a device being used. I do not support filibuster on nominees because there is the tool of a blue slip or block to stop the nominee in committee and I think it should be utilized rather than having another showdown on nominations and forcing you to vote for the nuclear option on a nominee that you believe should not be on the court because of policies he supported.

There is about to be a national e-mail campaign to get you to allow a vote in committee. Don't bow to the pressure if you honestly believe this nominee should not ascend to the court. Please keep the block on because once he would get out of committee there is no stopping the firewokrs that will follow and I do not want to have to go through that again over Mr. Haynes. I don't want there to be a filibuster and you have to vote for the nuclear option becasue you promised you would if the issue occured again. The only remedy for this is putting you political career on the line and blocking Mr. Haynes.

What you ran on was no juducual filibusters and not what is being claimed in this morning's Washington Post about never blocking a nominee. These groups want to take away the means that all senators have to place a block on a nomination because of policy questions and this is unaaceptable. Judiciary Committee members, including and especially those who do not want or support filibusters on the floor need to have the blue slip as an option. Don't let these groups totally run the process. What they want will change committee operations in an unacceptable manner. Don not sell your soul to special interests for this nominee. If you are blocking, even secretly, don't give in and if the block is from Mr. McCain don't encourage him to give in, either. You are being consistent in your concern about the U.S. losing the moral highground if we allow torture by blocking the nomination.

The pressure groups are threatening you with a challenge form Thomas Ravenel again to get you to back down. Don't give in because I would rather you lose in 2008 then give in to the pressure these groups will place on you to do their bidding. Your objections come from a strong foundation as a JAG attorney and military judge. These objections are based on sound law and principles of moral right and wrong. You are the light of the Committee on the issue of torture. Please let that light shine. You will be protected for standing up for what is right. As is stated in Proverbs 13:6 "Righteousness guards the man of integrity," and you are a man of integrity so by standing up against Mr. Haynes for his wrongful actions; it's more than bad advice, you will be protected by the righteousness of the Lord.

You know a great deal of integity becasue it is the first core value of the Air Force and is required of every officer and enlisted member. You swore an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution when you became an Air Force Officer and one of the Court, so you are required to also uphold the laws against torture. However, more important than either of these is the simple admonition in Matthew 5:37 to "Simply let your 'Yes' be 'Yes' and your 'No, 'No.' You are saying 'no' to torture and need to let this stand. Letting this 'No' stand says that you stand with the Lord and you follow the laws of man and God. It also allows you to stand for being on the moral highground which you said that we needed to capture back and saying 'No' to Mr. Haynes' nomination allows you to do this.

If you allow a vote on Mr. Haynes, even if you vote 'Nay,' which you will, you are allowing your colleagues who will vote 'Yea' just because he is the President's nominee to take a vote that will degrade our moral standing. The block on Mr. Haynes nomination is the moral highground. Do not give this up to the pressure groups. They are wrong here and are encouraging a sinfull vote by sacrificing at the alter of the up-or-down-vote on a President's nominees. Their allegiance is to this president, appearantly and in this case need to be ignored. You need to maintain a block to avoid the battle and re-entry of the nuclear which would force you to vote to change the rules when the time is not right. If this wer ethe nominee to invoke the Nuclear option I could not even defend your vote, as I could with almost any other nominee.

Mr. Haynes is not the not the nominee to sacrifice for because he ignored the advice of JAG lawyers like yourself and I am sure you remeber how long it took you to recive the JAG memos which were classified for some 'ungodly' reason. These memos were withheld and classified because they went against the policy of the department as agreed to by Mr. Haynes. The administration desired to hide this from the elected representatives of the people who should have seen them while investigating Abu Ghraib. Now the administration hopes to get Mr. Haynes confirmed to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, with the judicial pressure groups aiding and abetting the process. It is time to stand up and say 'no.' It is ok to explain why but then it is also ok to say "That's my story and I'm stickin' to it." Stand up to these people. They do not run your elected life. It is little people like me that do because we vote.

Most of the people who will be e-mailing and calling over the next few weeks will be responding to the request from the pressure groups and not necessarily have thought through the issue and know all the ramifications of what they ask for in terms of not blocking the Haynes nomination. I am writing in advance of this campaign and have thought the issue through.

This is a chance to stand up and be counted as a true 'rule of law' person and someone against torture. The issue will not go away because Mr. Haynes was a key player in at least creating an environment that was permissive in effect on those who would break the law. Do not allow a committee vote on Mr. Haynes, he is not worthy, to serve in the 'quirte place' of a courtroom on the Fourth Circuit because any case he sees will become noisy, a referrendum on torture, and on President Bush for years to come. Please keep this nominee from a vote. The Committee blue slip is the appropriate way to do this. The nomination needs to be withdrawn becasue of the key role he played as the DoD General Counsel.

Thank you and have a God Blessed day.