Black Pro-Family Leader: Alito's Record Should Earn Him Confirmation
by Chad Groening
January 16, 2006
(AgapePress) - - A coalition of pro-family African-American pastors has thrown its support behind the nomination of Judge Samuel Alito as the next justice on the United States Supreme Court. Dr. William Owens is founder and president of the 22,000-member Coalition of African-American Pastors (CAAP), a group whose mission includes protection of the unborn, preservation of traditional marriage, and the defense of "traditional family values such as supporting the role of religion in American life." In the interest of such values, he is speaking out on behalf of President Bush's latest high court nominee.
Judge Alito has, according to Owens, a sterling record on a number of issues that are of great importance to pro-family citizens. He says in researching the nominee's record it becomes apparent that "he goes by the Constitution as it was written" and "believes that religious freedom in America should be protected."
After having watched the confirmation hearings closely, Owens feels that what he saw as Senator Ted Kennedy's attempt to label Alito a racist did not work out for the lawmaker from Massachusetts, since he had no evidence to support that implication. "I think it was a disaster," the minister says. "It was a desperate move on his part because he had nothing else, so he was trying to find something."
Kennedy was trying desperately to find something he could use against Alito during the confirmation hearings but simply "could not find anything," Owens contends. "He was on a witch hunt, and it backfired on him."
The coalition founder and president says he is speaking out in favor of Alito because "I want a judge who is fair and consistent, and his 15-year record shows that he has been a fair judge and he has been consistent in his rulings." And CAAP is throwing its support behind the nominee, the group's spokesman adds, for these same basic, core reasons.
If his record is a true indication, then Samuel Alito "goes by the Constitution as it's written," Owens says. "He protects religious liberty, and he has been consistent and fair." The conservative African-American clergy leader maintains that, with that sterling record, the judge deserves to be confirmed and installed on the U.S. Supreme Court bench.
Chad Groening, a regular contributor to AgapePress, is a reporter for American Family Radio News, which can be heard online.
