supreme court
Next Judge Pick is Critical Swing
Vote
By Paul Strand
Washington Sr. Correspondent
CBN.com –
WASHINGTON - The Bush administration is asking the Supreme Court
to reinstate the ban on partial birth abortion.
The ban was struck down in federal court
after Congress passed it and the President signed it.
The administration's request comes as the full Senate begins
debate on confirming John Roberts as chief justice.
After the judiciary committee raked Roberts over the confirmation
coals for days, the full Senate is now spending hours praising
or blasting him before voting on him Thursday.
Majority Leader Sen. Bill Frist (R-TN) stated, "Truly, he
is a brilliant legal mind. He is the brightest of the bright."
"I have too many doubts about what the directions a Roberts
court will take us...persistent, nagging doubts," remarked
Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD).
But while Sen. Mikulski can be added to the "no" column,
13 Democrats have already signaled they will vote for Roberts,
joining the 55 Republican senators who are all expected to vote
"aye."
The battle over Roberts, though, was the easy one. He is basically
a conservative replacing a conservative, the recently-deceased
Chief Justice William Rehnquist.
But now, Bush must replace Sandra Day O'Connor, the crucial
swing vote on so many issues -- the justice who kept the court
voting 5-to-4 in favor of legalized abortion.
And at the same time, the White House is once again asking the
Supreme Court to consider banning partial-birth abortion.
Pro-choice forces worry if conservatives come to dominate the
court and do ban partial-birth abortion, the whole concept of
legalized abortion could start to unravel.
So the stakes could not be higher. Meanwhile, the pressure is
on Bush to pick a minority or woman to take O'Connor's place.
And he is hinting that is a factor in his thinking.
Bush commented, "I will put the person in who can do the
job. But I am mindful that diversity is one of the strengths of
the country."
But if Bush picks a conservative - even if it's a woman or minority,
conservatives still expect to see Democrats and liberal special
interest groups really go after that person, because liberals
worry it will take just one more conservative justice to make
for a decidedly-conservative Supreme Court.
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