Dawn Johnsen May Receive Recess Appointment, Perhaps Supreme Court Seat
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
February 10, 2010
Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — Dawn Johnsen has been on the top of the list of pro-abortion appointees from President Barack Obama that the pro-life movement has opposed. Now, it appears Johnsen, who could become a top assistant attorney general who advises Obama on legal matters, could receive a recess appointment.
Meanwhile, conservatives Ken Blackwell and Ken Klukowski, write in a new editorial that Obama could be grooming Johnsen for an appointment to either the Supreme Court or the most influential appeals court in the nation.
Republicans, joined by Nebraska Democrat Ben Nelson, have been successful in holding off Johnsen’s nomination with a filibuster.
As a result, Obama told reporters this week that he may consider appointing Johnsen via a recess appointment.
“I respect the Senate’s role to advise and consent, but for months, qualified, non- controversial nominees for critical positions in government, often positions related to our national security, have been held up despite having overwhelming support,” Obama said.
“If the Senate does not act …, I will consider making several recess appointments during the upcoming recess because we can’t afford to let politics stand in the way of a well functioning government,” Obama said.
Although he didn’t name the nominees he would put in position without Senate approval, Johnsen’s nomination to head the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel is considered one of the most likely.
Johnsen is such a pro-abortion radical that she has gone as far as saying pregnant women are subjected to a form of slavery and they should have unlimited abortion rights so they don’t become "fetal containers."
As the former legal director for the pro-abortion group NARAL, Johnsen argued in a brief to the U.S. Supreme Court that denying a pregnant woman the right to demand unrestricted abortion is to subject her to slavery, which was outlawed by the Thirteenth Amendment after the Civil War.
That concerns Blackwell and Klukowski who point out that the OLC is a stepping stone to a top court appointment, possibly including the Supreme Court.
"The Senate is about to act on the nomination of militant leftist Dawn Johnsen to be the chief of the U.S. government’s elite legal team. But that post is a stepping-stone for top judicial offices, including the Supreme Court itself. That’s likely Barack Obama’s plans for Johnsen, and it’s why she must be stopped now," they write.
They cite specific examples to back up their contention.
"What’s so important about the head of OLC is that it’s also a stepping-stone to top judicial positions, including the Supreme Court. Antonin Scalia was the head of OLC before he was appointed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, and then on to the Supreme Court. Samuel Alito was the deputy chief at OLC, before he went on to be U.S. attorney, then a judge on the Third Circuit, and now serves on the Supreme Court," they write.
"But former Chief Justice William Rehnquist is the best example. He was the head of OLC in the early 1970s, and then was nominated directly to the Supreme Court. The assistant attorney general at OLC is prestigious enough that a person can go straight from that position to our highest court," the pair say.
As such, they say that "may be Obama’s plan for Johnsen."
"She’s a dream judge for the Radical Left. Although she likely wouldn’t go straight to the High Court, she looks like someone being groomed for our nation’s second-highest court, the D.C. Circuit, from which she would be on the top of the short-list for a Supreme Court vacancy," the writers continue.
Of concern to pro-life advocates, Johnsen passionately argues that liberals should, “focus on the courts as the vehicles for desired change.”
"In other words, her legal advice would not only be advice; she intends to craft legal strategies to cram ultra-left outcomes down America’s throat through judicial activist court decisions," the conservative authors respond.
"This is one of those extraordinary circumstances where the Senate should reject a nominee. Comparing being pro-life to supporting slavery is a grossly offensive statement, especially to African-Americans," they say.
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