Obama and Biden Have Clear Pro-Abortion Litmus Test for Supreme Court

National   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Oct 9, 2008   |   9:00AM   |   WASHINGTON, DC

Obama and Biden Have Clear Pro-Abortion Litmus Test for Supreme Court

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
October 9
, 2008

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — The issue of judicial picks is important for the pro-life community because the next set of Supreme Court judges will likely determine whether America has another 35 years of 50 million abortions. Yet, the issue hasn’t received near the national attention it normally does in a presidential election year.

Mario Diaz, the policy director for legal issues for the pro-life group Concerned Women for America, says he is surprised a comment Biden made during the vice-presidential debate hasn’t received more attention.

Asked to name a policy issue on which he changed his mind, Biden said he determined five years into his Senate tenure that he should start evaluating the ideology of judicial appointments.

"It took about five years for me to realize that the ideology of that judge makes a big difference," he said.

Biden went on to say that judicial picks are important because of their views on Roe v. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court case that allowed virtually unlimited abortions for any reason during pregnancy, and he talked about how he was proud to have helped defeat the nomination of pro-life nominee Robert Bork.

"A judge’s ideology is what drives Sen. Biden’s decision on whether to vote for a judicial nominee?" Diaz asked in response to the comments in an editorial published Thursday on Town Hall.

"Isn’t a judge supposed to follow the law as enacted by the people’s representatives, even when he doesn’t agree ideologically with the policy behind that law?" Diaz asked. "If judges are to abide by the Constitution and the laws enacted by the legislature, then [ideology] doesn’t really matter."

He said Biden’s comment during the debate was surprising, "but not nearly as shocking as the lack of attention paid to his remarks."

Diaz says Obama shares the pro-abortion litmus test Biden has and pointed to a recent email the Obama campaign sent a member of his group.

“While I have no litmus test for judges, my bottom line is confidence that a judicial nominee will respect the constitutionally protected rights of all Americans and resist the temptation to substitute personal ideology for legal reasoning," the campaign said for the candidate.

"I believe, however, that a judicial nominee with a history of undermining settled law like Roe v. Wade deserves greater scrutiny," the email continued. "Nominees to the federal bench who are out-of-step with mainstream America should not be confirmed. That is why in the past I have opposed the nominations of Supreme Court Justices Roberts and Alito."

Diaz say Obama’s campaign denies he has a litmus test and then puts forward a pro-abortion mandate for judicial picks.

"It’s actually ironic that Sen. Obama would claim to have no litmus test and then mention his ‘mainstream test’ and his reverence of Roe v. Wade in reference to his no vote for Chief Justice John Roberts," he explains.

"Call it litmus test, an ideological test, a mainstream test, or call it what you want, but if it is up to Sen. Obama and Sen. Biden, judicial nominees must share the two senators’ ideology or they are not ‘fit’ to serve our country," Diaz concludes.

"I tend to think that’s a big deal, but maybe it’s just me," he said.

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