Why don't the Dem senators say that the nominees are a malady?

[L.A.dweller]

I've been watching some of this Senate session on C-Span and the Democratic senators haven't brought up why they are not voting for Bush's judicial appointees. They are doing a great job giving the reasons why this 30 hour sherade is uncalled for. And they are pointing out that there are more important things that need to be attended to but why don't they point out how evil Bush's nominees are? Are they afraid they will turn of voters by saying why they are against certain nominees?

I could only find info on the nominees stance on abortion. These people are very conservative.

5th Circuit
Priscilla Owen and Charles Pickering, Sr., were both defeated by the Senate Judiciary Committee. Both opposed women's reproductive rights, and Pickering called for a constitutional amendment to ban abortion.


10th Circuit
Michael McConnell: Opposes Roe v. Wade, stating that the court can deny legal protection "to fetuses only if it presupposes they are not persons...One can make a pretty convincing argument however, that fetuses are persons. They are alive; their species is Homo Sapiens."

In 1996, he signed a "Statement of Pro-Life Principle and Concern" which called on the Supreme Court to overturn Roe and urged Congress to pass a constitutional amendment banning all abortions, including those involving rape and incest.

Opposed the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (FACE), arguing that FACE is unconstitutional. He testified in support of the "constitutional right to protest against abortion forcefully and face-to face."


Timothy Tymkovich: Testified to the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee against the federal requirement that states receiving medicaid funds must pay for abortion services for low-income women in the cases of rape and incest.


6th Circuit
Jeffrey Sutton: Has no record on reproductive rights. "This absence is worrisome, particularly in light of Sutton's affiliation with Justice Scalia, one of the Supreme Court's most vociferous opponents of reproductive rights," according to NARAL.

Deborah L. Cook: Endorsed by the Ohio Right to Life in her last election for Ohio Supreme Court Justice.


4th Circuit
Dennis Shedd: In addition to coddling sexual harassers, he is only too eager to substitute his political agenda for the decisions of the United States Congress, striking down laws he does not like as beyond congressional authority. For example, to stop anti-abortion terrorists and other criminals from using license plate numbers to obtain personal information about their victims in order to stalk, attack or kill them, Congress passed the Driver Privacy Protection Act (DPPA). The Act prohibits states from divulging such personal information except in limited circumstances. Shedd struck down this law as a violation of states' rights.

Terrence Boyle: According to NARAL, he believes that the right to privacy should be "narrowly circumscribed" and limited to matters relating to marriage, procreation, contraception, family relationships, and child rearing and education.


District of Columbia Circuit
Miguel Estrada: A stealth anti-women's rights nominee, he has been compared to Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, one of the Supreme Court's most vocal opponents of women's abortion rights, because of his extreme conservatism.

John G. Roberts: As Deputy Solicitor General, Roberts argued in a brief before the Supreme Court that "we continue to believe that Roe was wrongly decided and should be overruled. The Court's conclusion in Roe that there is a fundamental right to an abortion...finds no support in the text, structure, or history of the Constitution."

Roberts also filed an amicus curiae brief in support of Operation Rescue in a Supreme Court case brought by NOW. The brief argued that the protesters' behavior did not discriminate against women and that blockades and clinic protests were protected speech under the First Amendment. This case spurred the Congress to enact the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act.


9th Circuit
Carolyn Kuhl: Co-authored the government's brief in Thornburgh v. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists which argued for the "outright reversal of Roe." She argued that the Roe decision was "flawed."

Fought for parental notification for young women and the gag rule. She has supported detailed intrusive reporting requirements which forced women to disclose personal information such as the date of their last menstrual cycle, their race, marital status and where they lived.

Wrote a brief in 1990 on behalf of the American Academy of Medical Ethics in which she argued that prohibiting doctors who receive federal funds from discussing abortion did not violate First Amendment guarantees of free speech.


Copyright 1995-2003, All rights reserved. Permission granted for non-commercial use. National Organization for Women
(This was printed from http://www.now.org/issues/legislat/nominees/abortion.html)

[Hippo_Tron]

1. You obviously didn't see Barbara Boxer last night...

http://www.c-span.org/congress/debate.asp I think it was around midnight-1am

[L.A.dweller]

2. No, I missed her.

Boxer is great. Thanks

[L.A.dweller]

3. OK. So one senator so far.