Stephanie Mencimer

Reporter

Stephanie works in Mother Jones' Washington bureau. A Utah native and graduate of a crappy public university not worth mentioning, she has spent the last year hanging out with angry white people who occasionally don tricorne hats and come to lunch meetings heavily armed.

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Stephanie covers legal affairs and domestic policy in Mother Jones' Washington bureau. She is the author of Blocking the Courthouse Door: How the Republican Party and Its Corporate Allies Are Taking Away Your Right to Sue. A contributing editor of the Washington Monthly, a former investigative reporter at the Washington Post, and a senior writer at the Washington City Paper, she was nominated for a National Magazine Award in 2004 for a Washington Monthly article about myths surrounding the medical malpractice system. In 2000, she won the Harry Chapin Media award for reporting on poverty and hunger, and her 2010 story in Mother Jones of the collapse of the welfare system in Georgia and elsewhere won a Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism.

Activists Try to Get Kagan Disbarred

—By Stephanie Mencimer

| Tue Aug. 3, 2010 8:06 AM PDT

Just as the full Senate this week starts debate over the nomination of Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court, a group of conservative activists is planning to ask that same court to disbar her. Larry Klayman, the famous Clinton tormentor and founder of Judicial Watch, told WorldNet Daily recently that he believes Kagan's work behind the scenes during the Clinton administration on the partial-birth abortion ban constitutes a "conspiracy to defraud the Supreme Court" and that he intends to ask the court to revoke her license to practice law.

Klayman's disbarment campaign is just the latest call from the right demanding a full investigation into Kagan's work on the partial-birth abortion ban during her years working in the Clinton White House. The controversy began during her confirmation hearings last month when Shannen Coffin posted a story on the National Review's website arguing that Kagan had been willing "to manipulate medical science to fit the Democratic Party’s political agenda on the hot-button issue of abortion."

Coffin, formerly Vice President Dick Cheney’s general counsel, defended the partial-birth abortion ban that passed in 2003 as deputy attorney general during the Bush administration. Citing documents released by the Clinton Library, Coffin claimed that when Kagan was working in the Clinton administration's domestic policy shop, she persuaded the American College of Ob/Gyns to alter the language it used in a statement on the merits of the partial-birth abortion procedure to support the political fight against the ban. Apparently, in an early statement on the procedure, ACOG had said that most of the time, the partial-birth abortion wasn’t essential to preserving the health of a woman. The statement didn’t include any qualifying language suggesting that there may be times when the procedure may be medically necessary.

Coffin quoted Kagan’s memo in which she wrote that ACOG’s original statement on partial-birth abortion "would be a disaster," presumably referring to the impact the medical opinion might have on any attempts to strike down a ban. Coffin then accused Kagan of having meddled with the ACOG expert statement, suggesting that memos in the archives show Kagan encouraging the group to amend its official position in a way that would most benefit opponents of any partial-birth ban. Coffin claimed the ACOG language made it extremely difficult for his office to defend the ban that did finally pass Congress, largely because the courts repeatedly deferred to the medical expertise of ACOG.

Kagan's responses to questions about ACOG during the confirmation hearings apparently didn't satisfy anti-abortion groups, who were remarkably quiet during the hearings. But now they're making one last desperate push to derail her confirmation. Americans United for Life has asked for a full Senate investigation into whether Kagan screwed up American abortion policy and law for more than a decade as a result of her work in the Clinton White House. The group's 50+ page report on the ACOG controversy is also the basis for Klayman's disbarment complaint.

The abortion issues don't seem to have had much of an impact on the vote tally so far in the Senate. Kagan is likely to be confirmed. Whether she could be disbarred is another matter. But the funny thing about the Supreme Court is that there's no requirement that justices even be lawyers, much less bar members. Even if by some miracle Klayman managed to get Kagan disbarred, it wouldn't necessarily get her off the bench.

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Glenn Beck's Auction Special: George Stephanopoulos?

Why was the tea party favorite selling an intro to the Good Morning America host?

—By Stephanie Mencimer

| Mon Aug. 2, 2010 3:00 AM PDT

Did Glenn Beck try to snooker George Stephanopoulos? If so, the Good Morning America host didn't fall for it.

Fox News star and tea party favorite Glenn Beck is planning a huge "Restoring Honor" rally at the Lincoln Memorial on August 28, with special guest Sarah Palin. The event is supposed to be all about "the troops." As such, Beck has been sponsoring an online auction to benefit the Special Operations Warrior Foundation, which provides scholarships to the children of fallen special operations military personnel. Beck has gotten lots of his famous friends and conservative compatriots to contribute to the auction. Last week, Beck fans surfing the auction site would have found a chance to dine with Newt Gingrich, drive 60 laps with NASCAR racer Rusty Wallace, or have lunch with media phenom Andrew Breitbart. They could even win an introduction to George Stephanopoulos and tickets to see a filming of Good Morning America.

Wait. George Stephanopoulos? The well-known former Clinton administration whiz-kid-turned-TV-host at a Fox network competitor? Hmmm. Somehow Stephanopoulos, going for $750, seemed like the odd man out in this lineup of conservative luminaries and Beck buddies. He also seemed like a curious offering for an auction that isn't entirely charitable. His online listing came with this disclaimer:

PLEASE NOTE: All contributions made to the Special Operations Warrior Foundation (SOWF), either directly or through the auction proceeds, will first be applied to the costs of the Restoring Honor Rally taking place on August 28, 2010. All contributions in excess of these costs will then be retained by the SOWF.

All that boilerplate means the proceeds from the auction don't go first to the charity, but to Beck's tribute to himself on the Mall. The event is estimated to cost $2 million, and SOWF has said that it has already raised at least that much thanks to Beck. Still, the rally is highly controversial.

Civil rights leaders and others have taken grave offense to Beck's choice of dates for his rally because it just happens to fall on the 47th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. The move doesn't seem to be a coincidence; Beck has been comparing himself to the civil rights leader for quite awhile now, promising to "reclaim the civil rights movement." The man who called the first black president a racist and once called Jesse Jackson the "the stinking king of the race lords," will prevent African-Americans from honoring the March on Washington anniversary at the Lincoln Memorial. Did Stephanopoulos really agree to help underwrite Beck's attempt to upstage MLK?

As it turns out, he didn't. After a call from Mother Jones, ABC News officials started asking questions about where the Beck auction money was going. Shortly afterwards, the Stephanopoulos page disappeared.

Cathie Levine, vice president for media relations at ABC News explained, "We get hundreds of these solicitations from charities every year and try as much as possible to fulfill them as long as they are meet our standards including that the proceeds go to charity." A few days later, she reported back that, "We sought assurance that the auction money would go directly to charity and while we were told the rally costs were covered and that funds raised from our specific item would go to Special Operations Warrior Foundation, it didn't sufficiently meet our standards. So we withdrew our auction item and George will make a personal donation directly to the SOWF."

Tea Partiers Freak Over Six Flags "Muslim Day"

—By Stephanie Mencimer

| Fri Jul. 30, 2010 3:00 AM PDT

The Six Flags amusement park chain has had its share of bad press lately, what with kids getting decapitated or having their feet chopped off on roller coaster rides, filing for bankruptcy and other Dan Snyder-related disasters. But the latest flap is more political. Tea partiers and other anti-Islam activists are freaking out about a Muslim Family Day planned for several Six Flags parks around the country on Sept. 12, the day after the World Trade Center attacks. The event, sponsored by the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA), offers Muslim families a chance to hang at the amusement park and be catered to by modestly dressed employees and halal food vendors.

While Six Flags has been holding these events since 2000 for the 42-year-old Muslim nonprofit, apparently this year, it's getting more attention, both because it falls on the weekend of Sept. 11 and also because of the ongoing controversy about the Muslim center planned a few blocks away from Ground Zero in New York. Naturally Glenn Beck, who mocked the event on his show last week, and Fox News have stoked the paranoia and opposition, giving the day ample coverage. Last week, Fox hosted guests who have suggested that the ICNA is a front for Hamas and other terrorist groups. Now, tea partiers are in a full froth about the event and there are already calls to boycott the bankrupt amusement park chain.

On the Tea Party Patriots website, a member posted an item entitled, "Stop Six Flags Muslim Family Day" which includes a missive from Annie Hamilton, an L.A. woman leading the charge against the park. She writes:

Muslim Day at Six Flags is inappropriate for a multitude of reasons and I'm saddened and shocked by the ignorance of the Corporate folks and by the action that now must be taken by the rest of us.

First, Islam is NOT a religion, it is an ideology - the religious portion only encompasses 11 % (the qur'an) the rest is the Sira and Hadith and the closest parallel to Islam is the Ku Klux Klan - if that is Six Flag's idea of 'appropriate' then by all means, hold your day on September 12th but don't plan on expanding any time soon because not only will we ensure that you don't grow, we'll make sure that your parks become a thing of the past...

STOP THE SILENCE. STOP THE NONSENCE. STOP THE MUSLIM DAY - THEY ARE NOT AMERICANS. THEY DO NOT ABIDE BY OUR CONSTITUTION - THEY ARE NOT ONE OF US - YOU ARE EITHER WITH US OR AGAINST US - MAKE YOUR DECISION.

None of the tea party commentaries mention that one of the men who first established the Muslim Family Day event in 2000 was himself killed in the attack on the World Trade Center. Nor do they seem to understand that the scheduling issue has far more to do with the Muslim calendar than any intentional desire to link the event to 9/11. The event is designed to celebrate the end of Ramadan, which ends on Sept. 10 this year. ICNA obviously didn't want to have its festivities on 9/11, so scheduled it for the next day. (Some tea partiers, meanwhile, have actually scheduled a big political rally on the National Mall for the anniversary of 9/11, but they don't see a big problem with that.)*

Those nuances seem utterly lost on the tea partiers. So far, though, their freakout hasn't yet persuaded Six Flags to cancel. The company is either nobly standing firm in their commitment to diversity, or is in dire need of the 50,000 customers the day typically brings to their parks. Either way, a Six Flags spokeswoman told Fox News last week that the day would be nothing more than a "fun-filled family outing that typically coincides with Eid, the end of the Ramadan holiday."

*UPDATE 8/25/10: The original version of this story misstated the name of the ICNA president. He is Zahid Bukhari.

Are Tea Partiers Trying to Hijack 9/11?

Conservatives plan to mark the 9th anniversary of the attacks with a protest in DC. And they thought they had a PR problem before.

—By Stephanie Mencimer

| Thu Jul. 29, 2010 3:00 AM PDT

Ever since the terrorist attacks that left nearly 3,000 people dead, September 11th has been a day of national mourning, a time to set politics aside and focus on honoring the victims. But this year, a coalition of tea party and assorted conservative "liberty" groups have other plans. They intend to commemorate the 9th anniversary of 9/11 with a political rally on the National Mall, less than three miles from the Pentagon, where American Airlines Flight 77 crashed.

Unite in Action (UIA)—an umbrella organization for a host of other conservative groups that has ties to Glenn Beck's 9/12 Project—is planning a four-day extravaganza of "patriot" events in DC, marking the anniversary of the massive tea party rally held in Washington last September 12th. On the agenda for the 11th is a "9/11 Memorial and Unity Rally," which UIA describes as a "call to action rally focused on the social issues threatening our freedom."

The organizations involved are far from a neutral bunch. UIA's advisory board includes the Oath Keepers, a militant group that has pledged to take up arms against the government if it comes down to it. (On its site, the group is advertising the 9/11 event as a "Defend the Constitution" rally.) There's also ResistNet, a social networking organization for self-proclaimed patriots that has been heavily involved in anti-immigration campaigns. And there are veterans' groups with ties to the Constitution Party, whose goal is to return American jurisprudence to its "Biblical roots." While UIA claims it's holding a "unity" rally, the event will be preceded by signmaking parties—a staple of protest marches.

[Read the full article]

The Tea Party's March Madness

How a DC rally to unify the movement turned into the latest tea party drama.

—By Stephanie Mencimer

| Fri Jul. 23, 2010 3:00 AM PDT

The tea party movement is not just a political juggernaut—it's also become a big business. That quickly became clear following last September's unexpectedly enormous rally in Washington organized by Dick Armey's FreedomWorks, the event that helped put the movement on the map. With crowd estimates ranging from 75,000 to 2 million, the rally was such a hit that conservative activists are planning a sequel this year. A bunch of them actually. And these competing events have led to confusion and infighting among the tea party faithful. The conflict has reached such a pitch that Glenn Beck weighed in with a plea for unity on his radio show Thursday. "I don't care who started it," he lectured. "We must come together."

If nothing else, conservative activists will have plenty of opportunities this summer to publicly vent their frustrations with the Obama administration. On the afternoon of September 12, FreedomWorks plans a repeat of last year's march on the National Mall. Another group with ties to Beck's National 9.12 Project has decided to get in on the action as well, putting together a three-day extravaganza that weekend that includes a "liberty XPO" at a swank DC hotel and a march on the Mall on the 9^th anniversary of 9/11. Then there's the "Restoring Honor" spectacle planned by Beck himself for the steps of the Lincoln Memorial on August 28, on the 47^th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech on the same spot. That rally will be followed the next day by yet another protest march, this one sponsored by the Tea Party Patriots.

[Read the full article]