ACLU, Pro-Aborts Begin Taking Potshots at SCOTUS Nominee
by Jody Brown and Bill Fancher
July 21, 2005
(AgapePress) - One side labels him an "anti-choice activist" and a threat to women's health and safety. The other describes him as a "lawyer's lawyer" and a humble public servant. It appears the honeymoon period for Supreme Court nominee John Roberts was short-lived.Almost as if the press releases were prepared ahead of time with a "fill in the blank" for the name, liberal groups wasted little time in ripping into President George W. Bush's first appointment to the high court. The American Civil Right Union says it has "deep concern" about some of the nominee's positions in the area of civil liberties -- particularly about briefs he authored that call for the overturn of Roe v. Wade, support prayer at high school graduations, and seek to criminalize burning of the American flag.
Pro-abortion groups also hit the ground running, saying only a nominee who supports abortion -- that is, "committed to protecting women's health and safety," as they put it -- should be confirmed by the Senate.
"All Supreme Court justices have a great impact on women's health," says Karen Pearl, interim director for the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, "but Justice [Sandra Day] O'Connor's replacement will play a truly pivotal role. We expect Judge Roberts to state his position on reproductive freedom fully and completely and answer thoroughly any questions [on] his commitment to upholding protections for women's health and safety."
PPFA has case pending before the Supreme Court -- Ayotte v. Planned Parenthood -- that is scheduled to be heard this fall. Pearl acknowledges her organization is concerned with the possible seating of Roberts on the high court. "When the court hears [this case], the outcome with a new justice could drastically affect women's health and safety," she says.
Another prominent abortion advocacy group, NARAL Pro-Choice America, labels the DC Circuit Court of Appeals judge an "anti-choice activist" and predicts that if he is confirmed to a lifetime appointment on the Supreme Court, "there is little doubt that he will work to overturn Roe v. Wade." The nominee, adds NARAL, is a "divisive" nominee who has a record of "seeking to impose a political agenda on the courts."
"We must not allow someone who's spent his career advocating ending the right to choose to be appointed to the most important court in our country," the NARAL website says.
And the minister who chairs the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice says Roberts is a threat to religious liberty. Rev. Lois Powell says abortion is a religious right, because some faiths do not believe that legally-protectable personhood begins until a child is born. Powell says Roberts' nomination threatens freedom of religion because a woman's choice to abort her pregnancy may be "in line with her own religious faith."
Not Unexpected
Such responses from the liberal side of the spectrum don't surprise Jan LaRue. "Their outrageous behavior is completely predictable," says the chief counsel for Concerned Women for America. "We've said all along that no matter who the president was to appoint, the liberals would use the 'five Ds': dismay, demand, distort, defame, and delay -- and right on schedule, the liberals are doing it again."
Roberts, says LaRue, is a "brilliant choice" who does not give the liberal opposition much ammunition, and who should present a real challenge for those who would attempt to defame him. Nevertheless, she predicts the attacks will come.
"What is it about John Roberts that the liberals don't like?" she wonders. "Is it his humility that grates on them? Maybe the Harvard degrees aren't mainstream enough? The liberals just don't get it."
LaRue predicts that the Left's "old playbook" -- distorting and delaying -- will fall short. "In the end, Judge Roberts will be confirmed," the attorney states. "But it's up to the Left to tone down the rhetoric and decide they want to be a part of mainstream civil behavior again."
Christian Legal Society
The nation's oldest and largest association of Christian lawyers and law students is impressed both by the appointment and by Roberts himself. The executive director of the Christian Legal Society says Judge Roberts is respected as a "lawyer's lawyer."
"He is considered by many who practice before the Supreme Court to be one of the finest appellate advocates in the country," says CLS's Samuel Casey, who -- like many observers -- sees Roberts' nomination as fulfillment of President Bush's campaign promise to nominate a strict constructionist.
"[Judge Roberts has] an outstanding working knowledge of the Constitution as it is written and was intended to be interpreted," Casey adds. "[B]y virtue of his appellate experience, [he] promises upon his confirmation to make an immediate, positive, and long-term impact on the respect the Supreme Court needs to preserve our constitutional form of government."
Too Early?
Meanwhile, a conservative icon in Washington is worried because the White House rejected his advice regarding the timing of its announcement of Roberts' nomination to the Supreme Court. Free Congress Foundation founder and president Paul Weyrich says opposition groups will now have a month to rally their forces and voice their opinions on Roberts before hearings begin in late August.
"I pleaded with the White House not to make the appointment until the end of August because if it is made now, and Congress then goes out of session, you will have all the left-wing groups screaming about the appointee," Weyrich says. That vocal opposition has already begun.
According to Weyrich, the White House response to his request was lukewarm. "You know, it was just a 'thanks for your input' type of thing," he recalls. "I'm not sure they really comprehend what will happen to their nominee if the nominee's good."
Weyrich voices concern that the month-long interval before hearings begin will give those opposed to Roberts time to build their objections to a fever pitch. He says that happened once before to another Supreme Court nominee -- Robert Bork.
Associated Press contributed to this story.
