"The Constitution Be Damned"

Brendan Miniter points out how left-wingers on the Senate Judiciary committee seem to count against judicial nominees their sincerely held religious convictions:

.... The lightning rod here, of course, is abortion. It's no secret that the pope and the Catholic Church are squarely against abortion on demand. And Mr. Holmes, who once served as president of Arkansas Right to Life, is an orthodox Catholic. He's written articles against abortion and has even -- God forbid -- defended the rights of people to peaceably protest against the practice.

Abortion gives the Democrats some of their most fanatical supporters. So Sens. Schumer, Dianne Feinstein and Dick Durbin feel safe in demonizing Mr. Holmes. They even dug up a 23-year-old letter in which Mr. Holmes argued against rape exemptions. Mr. Holmes says he no longer holds this view, and Sen. Durbin for one should sympathize, since 23 years ago he was pro-life.

Mr. Schumer is particularly critical because Mr. Holmes admitted to him that Roe v. Wade was one of the Supreme Court decisions he didn't agree with and because he refuses to promise to recuse himself if any of the right-to-life groups he's defended ever comes before him. Such pre-emptive recusals aren't in line with judicial ethics, which require federal judges to weigh the circumstances of each case before deciding on whether to recuse themselves....

What the Senate's left-wing extremists have been trying to do to the judiciary the past couple of years is very, very dangerous. It is imperative that the Bush administration not give an inch.

(Thanks, Ryan.)

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Tue. 04/22/03 01:34:24 PM
Categorized as Political.