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OCTOBER 2005
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Harriet Miers after her nomination. President George W. Bush looks on. |
When pro-life President George W. Bush introduced Harriet Miers to the American people as his nominee to replace Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, little was known about her other than that she has been the President's White House Counsel since 2003 and that she is intensely loyal to the President. In the days that followed, a fuller picture began to emerge.
"To begin with, Ms. Miers "will strictly interpret our Constitution and laws," Mr. Bush promised. "She will not legislate from the bench."
"At her October 3 introduction, Miers added, "It is the responsibility of every generation to be true to the founders' vision of the proper role of the courts in our society. If confirmed, I recognize that I will have a tremendous responsibility to keep our judicial system strong, and to help ensure that the courts meet their obligations to strictly apply the laws and the Constitution."
"There is also now a fair amount known about Miers in the context of the abortion issue.
"Between 1990 and 1992, the influential American Bar Association (ABA) zigged and zagged on abortion three times, going from pro-abortion, to neutrality, and back to pro-abortion again in 1992. Miers worked against adoption of the pro-abortion position and then, while president of the Texas State Bar in 1993, urged the ABA to conduct a referendum of its full membership.
Roberts Confirmed as 17th Chief Justice of the United
States
By Dave Andrusko
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| Judge John Roberts and family. |
"If people can't vote for you [John Roberts], then I
doubt they can vote for any Republican nominee."
Sen. Orrin Hatch
"Roberts's performance so far has been so masterful, so
disarming that the political left has foundered in its effort to tag him as some
sort of scary extremist. The vast mushy middle seems accepting and the right is
still thrilled."
Terry Neal, Washington Post
Even before John Roberts raised his hand and solemnly swore to "support and defend the Constitution," in the process becoming the youngest leader of the Supreme Court in nearly 200 years, pro-abortion Senate Democrats were issuing ominous warnings that his relatively peaceful confirmation as Chief Justice of the United States could be the calm before the storm.
There were vows to press the next Supreme Court nominee--who turned out to be White House Counsel Harriet Miers--for more specific assurances, threats of filibusters, and routine use of the term Armageddon.
Not that pro-abortion Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee didn't try to stir up opposition to the 50-year-old Roberts, who succeeds his mentor, the late Chief Justice William Rehnquist.
EDITORIALS:
A Second Supreme Court Nominee
John Dolan: RIP
"Operation Baby Box":
Pro-Lifers Provide Real Relief to
Pregnant Hurricane Katrina Victims
Limitations on Free
Speech Challenged:
United States Supreme Court to Hear Campaign Finance Cases
92% of Women Cite "Social" or
"Other" Reasons
New Study Examines Reasons Women Have Abortions
Look under Human
Service Charities of America Agency #2844
Combined Federal
Campaign Is Underway!
Preventing Use of Federally
Controlled Drugs to Assist Suicide Doesn't Violate States' Rights
Bush Administration Asks Supreme Court
to Reinstate Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act
Have You Heard the Good News
about Adult and Umbilical Cord Blood Stem Cells? Probably Not
All Rules Are Out the Window When the Pro-Abortion Groups Decide You Are the Enemy...
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Wanda Franz, Ph.D. |
THE SPECTER OF "SUPER-DUPER
PRECEDENTS”
By Wanda Franz, Ph.D.
Sen. Arlen Specter: And I don't want to coin any phrases on super-precedents--we'll leave that to the Supreme Court--but would you think that Roe might be a super-duper precedent in light of ... [LAUGHTER] ... in light of 38 occasions to overrule it?
Judge John Roberts: Well, the interesting thing, of course, is not simply the opportunity to address it, but when the court actually considers the question. And that, of course, is in the Casey decision, where it did apply the principles of stare decisis and specifically addressed it. And that I think is the decision that any judge in this area would begin with.--from the transcript of the confirmation hearings of Chief Justice John Roberts
In this exchange our new Chief Justice gently informed Senator Specter that the governing "super-duper" precedent is Planned Parenthood of S.E. Pennsylvania v. Casey (1992), not Roe v. Wade (1973). As Fourth Circuit Appeals Judge Michael Luttig ruefully put it, "I understand the Supreme Court to have intended its decision in Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992) to be a super-stare decisis [Latin for let it stand] with respect to a woman's fundamental right to choose whether or not to proceed with a pregnancy. ... And I believe this understanding to have been not merely confirmed, but reinforced by the Court's recent decision in Stenberg v. Carhart (2000)."
So, abortion law is now governed by Casey, not Roe. The notoriously broad definition of "health " in Doe v. Bolton (the companion decision to Roe) remains, however, intact; thus abortion on demand is still the law of the land. Our task is not only to undo Roe, but to overturn Casey and Carhart as well.
Read Dr. Franz's Entire Column
Complete NRL News
2005 Subject Index
2005
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