Commission won't investigate judge for abortion ruling

[Omaha Steve]

http://journalstar.com/news/local/commission-won-t-investgate-judge-for-abortion-ruling/article_1be4b1c3-1dfa-5fd5-9739-ffea0b77daac.html

December 09, 2013 1:25 pm • By KEVIN O'HANLON / Lincoln Journal Star

The state commission that oversees judges has refused to investigate one who told a 16-year-old state ward seeking to terminate her pregnancy that having an abortion would “kill the child inside you.”

In October, representatives of abortion rights groups NARAL Pro-Choice America and RH Reality Check submitted an online petition with some 89,000 signatures to the Nebraska Commission on Judicial Qualifications urging an investigation into what they said was anti-abortion bias in a case by Douglas County District Court Judge Peter Bataillon. The groups filed a formal complaint with the commission earlier. Bataillon has declined to discuss the complaint.

"The commission has no authority to second-guess a judge's determinations and is prohibited from taking any action absent clear and convincing evidence of fraud, corrupt motive or bad faith," Commission Secretary Janice Walker said in rejecting the complaint.

Ilyse Hogue, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, decried the decision.

FULL story at link.

[niyad]

1. are we at all surprised? will have to look at the bios--of the ten members, 4 appear to be women,

there are two lay members (the rest are attorneys or judges), and one of them has been on the commission since 95. all of their terms, except for the permanent member, expire in 2017.