The Nation - Alito Testimony Swings Pro-Choice GOPers -- Against Him

[DoYouEverWonder]

John Nichols Thu Jan 12, 4:01 PM ET

The Nation -- Confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominees should always be about more than the abortion debate. And the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on the nomination of Judge Samuel Alito to serve on the high court have touched on a broad variety of issues -- including the essential question of whether the court will address the Bush administration's abuses of authority by enforcing the Constitutional balance of powers.

<snip>

Notably, after Alito testified before the committee, the group Republican Majority for Choice (RMC), issued a statement that said, "There is no crystal ball to predict how a Justice Alito would rule in future cases; therefore we have closely monitored the confirmation hearings with the hope that Judge Alito would offer some clarifying statements that would allay our concerns about his record. Instead, he side-stepped the issue of whether or not the right to privacy in the Constitution extends to reproductive choice. He avoided answering whether Roe was settled law and existing precedent required a health exception to statutes limiting a woman's access to abortion."

"Without such assurances, we can only calculate his judicial philosophy on reproductive rights through the prism of his past actions and statements," the RMC statement continued. Referring to retiring Justice
Sandra Day O'Connor, the critical swing vote on the court with regard to reproductive rights and other issues, the group added, "As the replacement for the architect of the 'undue burden' standard, the stakes are too high for RMC to support an appointee who outlined a blueprint to dismantle that very standard."

<snip>

RMC is the largest pro-choice group in the Republican Party and has more influence than most moderate groups with GOP senators. In addition to Specter, three other Republican senators -- Rhode Island's Lincoln Chafee, and Mainers Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe -- serve on the Republican Majority for Choice advisory council. The question now is whether those senators were paying as close attention to Alito's testimony as the group they advise.

Needless to say, the same goes for other senators, Republicans and Democrats, who claim to support a right to choose.

After all, as the Republican Majority for Choice noted, "The reality is that Judge Alito would not have to vote to overrule Roe in order to be the architect of the denial of a woman's right to choose. He could give lip service to respecting Roe while upholding the numerous legislative efforts to chip away at reproductive freedom. The cumulative result is that Roe v. Wade and its progeny are rendered meaningless."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/thenation/20060112/cm_thenation/148938;_ylt=A86.I18s0sZDmkYArwD9wxIF;_ylu=X3oDMTBjMHVqMTQ4BHNlYwN5bnN1YmNhdA

[mcctatas]

1. Do these people's opinions have any impact on the repukes in the Senate?

or are they hopelessly outnumbered by freeper/fundie wing-nuts?

[DoYouEverWonder]

2. There are a handful of pro-choice REPS in the Senate

let's hope this helps push them along.

[FogerRox]

4. The hearings did show Alito wanted to cover up his past

dis-avow what he had wrought so far. Filibuster-- SHUT THE SENATE DOWN

[bear425]

8. Apparently not. Look here. Specter serves on the adv. council.

-snip-
RMC is the largest pro-choice group in the Republican Party and has more influence than most moderate groups with GOP senators. In addition to Specter, three other Republican senators -- Rhode Island's Lincoln Chafee, and Mainers Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe -- serve on the Republican Majority for Choice advisory council. The question now is whether those senators were paying as close attention to Alito's testimony as the group they advise.

[Ksec]

3. This idea that nobody can predict Alito?

Pulease.

Hes as transparent as glass. Hes a pro corporate, anti- choice, anti-Labor, anti-little guy disaster that will be there until he croaks.
And were stuck with it because of DINOS.

[Emit]

5. Eleanor Clift mentioned this in her commentary

yesterday, albeit from a different angle. She brings inito her op-ed the notion that the GOP really doesn't want to overturn Roe v Wade, as they for so long have used it as a wedge issue:

A pro-choice Republican who spoke with NEWSWEEK but didn't want her name used said she is more worried about Alito after hearing him testify...

~snip~

"Any activist will tell you they'd rather have the issue out there than to have it resolved," says this pro-choice Republican, who has worked on the Hill and for various Republican interest groups. "If Roe were overturned, we'd be electing Democrats as far as the eye can see."

According to this source, even committed right-to-life activists don't want Roe struck from the books before society is ready. "They think if given the time, they can change the culture. I think they're deluded, but they know it's going to take time."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10839026/site/newsweek/

Anyway, thanks for the news. It provides some insight into how people out there are really thinking--unlike the MSM, who just keep telling us Alito is a shoe-in.

[Ksec]

9. When they turn over Roe, they will lose their only hope

I agree with Clift on that point. Once they take away the reason most religious right vote for them , theyll have to find a new weapon to get that block on their side. Theres always gay marriage, I suppose.

[A Simple Game]

11. I've said the same thing several times,

that they really don't want choice to go away. But who knows with *, he really doesn't care about the future of the Republican party, and perhaps our Country. They have their tax cuts and war and that is all that counts for now. If he can get Roe overturned, well that is a straw in his cap as far as he is concerned. For anyone in his circle an abortion is not going to be a problem.

[KC21304]

6. Specter has already said RMC does not speak for him

in this matter. He's voting for Alito.

[lyonn]

14. Specter may not vote on it once it hits the Senate floor

Maybe he is only voting yes in committee so that it can be voted on later by the full Senate. I think it is cowardly if this is his thinking.

[Idioteque]

7. There are actually quite a few pro-choice Republicans in the Senate...

...who must be getting sick of this crap.

Lincoln Chafee, Susan Collins, and Olympia Snowe are very pro-choice. Arlen Specter is pro-choice as well, although he tends to favor quite a few restrictions.

What a lot of people don't know, however, is that several Republican Senators support the right to an abortion with many restrictions. They include Kay Baily Hutchinson, John Warner, Johnny Isakson, Lisa Murkowski, and Ted Stevens.

While all of these Senators will probably vote for Alito except for maybe Chafee, Snowe, and Collins, they probably don't really like the idea of Roe being destroyed.

[lyonn]

15. I heard either Snowe or Collins (can't remember which one)

is going to vote for Alito.

[roseBudd]

10. It's going to take prochoice GOPers to wake up the Rovians who

hitched their wagon to the religous right.

[Nomen Tuum]

12. Specter and Collins ARE voting FOR Alito

They are NOT Pro Choice.

[Innocent Smith]

13. Chafee and Snowe

Chafee and Snowe are the only possible Repubs to vote against Alito.

Spectre may be on the RMC board, but he is voting for Alito. He pratically head his hand throughout the hearings.

[dsc]

16. If these people really cared about choice

they would have voted for Kerry. Sorry, but they are deluded if they thought Bush wouldn't appoint pro life justices. Simply deluded. Bush appointed literally hundreds of judges in his first four years. To a judge they were pro life. That should have been enough for them to get the picture.