JTA reports:
Forty-five Republican members of Congress have sent a letter to President Obama requesting that he reconsider Wednesday's presentation of the Presidential Medal of Freedom to Mary Robinson.
"While we are aware of her achievements, they are outweighed by her failed, biased record as United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights from 1997 to 2002," says the letter, circulated by Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.) and Thaddeus McCotter (R-Mich.).
"Mr. President, you did the right thing by staying away from a biased Durban Review Conference (Durban II) that reaffirmed Durban I's declaration, noting that 'if you adopted all the language from 2001, that's just not something we could sign up for... our participation would have involved putting our imprimatur on something that we just don't believe.' Likewise, awarding this nation's highest civilian honor to Mary Robinson risks putting our imprimatur on a biased record that contravenes our nation's deepest values. Therefore, in keeping with your decision on Durban II, we respectfully request that you not grant Ms. Robinson this distinction."
The full letter is after the jump. The full letter with signatures can be seen here