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Supreme Court
WE REMAIN SKEPTICAL
Today Judge Alito was confirmed by the US Senate by a vote of 58-42 . He will replace retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor,one of the key votes protecting a woman's right to choose (Roe).
Whether or not Alito or for that matter Chief Justice Roberts will in fact undo the precedent of Roe remains to be seen. We will be watching their votes intently. Alito's past writings suggest that he will not vote as O'Connor did; but we understand he had led some of our pro-choice Senators to believe otherwise when he met with them. Others who knew Alito told us as well that he would not be a sure vote against Roe. We hope they are right, but no one here is holding their breath.
Republicans for Choice also wants to applaud Senator Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island who was the only Republican Senator to vote not to confirm Judge Alito . Senator Chafee's vote took a great deal of courage to go against the rest of his Republican colleagues. He was under immense pressure from Party leadership but he stuck to his principles. We urge all those who believe in individual rights and a woman's right to choose, regardless of party affiliation, to reward Senator Chafee by heavily supporting his re-election campaign this year. He has a tough fight.
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Washington,D.C.
Republicans for Choice PAC, the nation's largest pro-choice GOP political action committee, is officially withholding final judgement at this time regarding the nomination of Judge Samuel Alito as the replacement for retiring Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor.
"Last week when Alito was first announced we were very,very concerned and frankly very angry. But now we are moving very cautiously in evaluating this nominee due to some new information." said Ann E W Stone,National Chairman.
"Within hours of the announcement of the nomination of Alito we have had our members and supporters calling the Hill to ask our pro-choice GOP Senators and some of their maverick colleagues to withhold judgement or support at this time. The level of unsolicited email we have received from non-members through our website has been tremendous and we have directed them by email to contact our target list as well. We were pleased to hear that today the Gang of 14 will not make any decisions until after the hearings. There is a lot more we need to know about this nominee." she added.
"Our pro-choice friend and supporter, Judiciary Chair Arlen Specter had a positive interview with the nominee and reported positively on his view of precedent but that is far from enough for us to feel totally comfortable. We are very grateful that the Chairman has resisted pressure to rush the proceedings and has pushed them off until next year." She continued.
There are positive indications in that it appears Alito does believe in the right to privacy which is central to both Griswold (contraception) and Roe as Supreme Court precedent. Also, several Democrat Judges who have served with him have said they do not believe he would overturn Roe due to the built up precedent. We also know now that one of his favorite former Justices was one of the most liberal, Brennan....not something that Scalia or Thomas would ever say!
But one thing that still bothers us is that we still do not know his view of women in today's society. His support for spousal notification is troubling but there were wide exceptions to that which he supported that does help. But does he feel as Justice O'Connor wrote in her majority opinion in the 1992 Casey decision that "women in order to participate equally in today's society must be able to control their own bodies"?
"We would remind him and the other Justices that when our founding fathers wrote and passed the Constitution that women were still largely considered as chattel (property of their husbands), with no property or voting rights so that document had to be amended to give them even the most basic rights. At that same time abortion was fully legal up to the point of "quickening"...abortion restrictions did not appear until the mid 1800's. So we look to the Court to make sure women are fully protected today so as to enjoy the same control over their persons that men enjoy over theirs. That is equality before the law!!" Stone concluded.
Republicans for Choice PAC has over 150,000 supporters/members nationwide and has been in continuous operation since just after the Supreme Court Webster decision in 1989. RFC also has a national advisory council that is comprised of almost 500 current and former elected and appointed GOP officials in all 50 states.
Republicans for Choice | 205 South Whiting Street, Suite #260 | Alexandria, VA 22304 (703) 212-0890 | gop4choice@erols.com
"This Republicans For Choice committee is a political action group and is not a part of, or affiliated with, Planned Parenthood."
