Pro-Abortion Group Continues Campaign Blasting Pro-Life Judicial Pick Honaker 
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
February 22, 2008
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — Top pro-abortion group NARAL isn’t letting up in its unrelenting campaign to prevent pro-life attorney and former state legislator Richard Honaker from getting a federal judgeship in Wyoming. The group sent its supporters an alert on Friday saying they want more than the 134,136 emails they’ve generated against him.
Honaker received an appointment from President Bush to the U.S. District Court for the District of Wyoming.
He received a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee last week and told members of the panel he would not legislate from the bench.
However, he has been harshly attacked by pro-abortion groups because he proposed the Human Life Protection Act in the state legislature in 1991 and was behind a subsequent state ballot vote in 1994. Both measures would have prohibited most abortions in Wyoming.
Honaker’s comments about respecting the rule of law weren’t good enough for NARAL, whose president, Nancy Keenan, blasted him in the new action alert.
"Last week during his Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Honaker tried to downplay his hostility toward a woman’s right to choose. But who could possibly buy it? I sure don’t," she said.
Keenan called Honaker an "extremist" because he promoted the measures to stop abortions and urged her group’s members to continue contacting the Senate.
"A lifetime position on the federal bench is no place for a man who has been openly hostile to women’s freedom and privacy," Keenan said.
During the hearing, Honaker confirmed his legislation was an attempt to overturn Roe v. Wade but he said his role as a legislator is “absolutely contrary” to the role a judge plays and promised he would not legislate from the bench.
“I recognize the right to privacy, and I recognize the precedent of the United States Supreme Court,” he said, in acknowledging that lower courts follow the lead of the nation’s highest. “That is the law of the land, and I would apply it."
Honaker would fill the seat vacated by U.S. District Judge Clarence Brimmer, who is retiring and taking on senior status.
He is a Harvard graduate with a law degree from the University of Wyoming. He has a private practice in the state and has been the head of the Wyoming Trial Lawyers Association and the Wyoming State Bar.
Right to Life of Wyoming strongly supports the Honaker nomination and has encouraged its members to support his confirmation in the Senate.
"The nomination of Richard Honaker is consistent with the kind of judges President Bush has appointed the to federal courts in the past. He’s someone who will uphold the rule of law and not engage in political advocacy from the bench," the group says.
"Because of his pro-life views and past efforts to protect human life, it’s obvious that Richard Honaker joins with attorneys on both side of the abortion debate who understand that Roe v. Wade was an example of unadulterated judicial activism and that the role of the courts to is interpret the law — not make it up as you go," the group added.
ACTION: Contact your senator and urge support for Richard Honaker’s nomination by calling 202-224-3121 or going to https://www.senate.gov
