BUSH'S ANTI-CHOICE NOMINEES TO THE FEDERAL BENCH

This is not news, and that's the tragedy. The democrats have chosen to fiercely oppose a few of these nominees, but many others have been approved already.

More are being nominated right now, and they are even worse than those that are now being fought.

Even if some of the damage to the body politic that Bush has inflicted can be reversed, and that's a great "if", these appointments are lifetime. When Nader tried to tell us there was no difference between the two parties, he conveniently overlooked the appointments to the federal, and maybe the Supreme, courts--appointments that will negatively impact us all for generations.

It's one of the greatest insults to the American public to promote these incredibly unqualified people to positions of lasting influence. It's also one of the most cynical moves of this administration. Bush needs his radical right voter base, and it appears he will do anything to favor them. Of course, he himself may approve of the nominees' positions, and their injecting of radical opinion into judicial decisions. All the more obnoxious. I used to ask, which is worse, that Reagan believes what he says, or that he doesn't?

NARAL, among many other moderate and progressive organizations, is fighting these nominations. Their site is at http://www.prochoiceamerica.org. As is the case with many sites, they make it easy to send your protests to congress, or give you info to do it yourself.

Here's what they say in their newsletter about two recent nominees; first, about Janice Brown:

"Now Bush is at it again. This time, he is looking to promote Janice Rogers Brown, a radically conservative justice on the California Supreme Court. Her record makes her the perfect Bush pick: she's anti-choice and anti-privacy, and she routinely injects her extreme right-wing views into her judicial opinions.

Radically anti-choice Claude Allen will come before the Senate Judiciary Committee this Tuesday. Nominated to a lifetime seat on the powerful Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, Allen has one of the worst anti-choice records of any Bush nominee - and that's saying a lot!"


And then about Claude Allen:

"Thank you for being at the forefront of so many of our hard fought battles. I write to urge your opposition to President Bush's nomination of Claude Allen to the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. I hope you will attend this hearing on October 28, ask about Allen's record on the right to choose, and voice your opposition.

Claude Allen has worked throughout his career to impose his own personal and political views on others, making it highly unlikely that he would be capable of fairly hearing cases involving reproductive rights. Allen's anti-choice views are not confined to the law or policy - he is also an anti-choice political activist.

Also, the White House has bypassed two Democratic Senators by nominating Allen for a seat that by tradition and population should go to a Maryland attorney. This political move demonstrates how right-wing ideology trumps all other consideration for judicial nominations by this administration

Federal judges must fairly apply the law and follow court precedents. Brown has a record of judicial activism. If confirmed to the federal courts, she's likely to disregard established precedent and rule against constitutional rights.

Brown received an "unqualified" rating for the state supreme court by the State Bar of California, particularly because of her disregard for established precedents and her record of injecting her personal views into judicial rulings."


After the passage of the recent anti-abortion bill, egregiously and knowingly erroneously framed by the control-freaks as the 'partial-birth abortion" bill*, these nominees pose another threat to constitutional rights, and will impose their own morality, like their leader, on those of us to whom that so-called morality is repugnant.

*See William Saletan's Oct 22 column "The "Partial-Birth" Myth--No, it's not a birth" at Slate: http://slate.msn.com/id/2090201/?0sl=-10