the waiting game is over...
Today, July 1st 2005, the United States Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor officially resigned from her seat on the Supreme Court.
Justice O'Connor was appointed to the Supreme Court in 1981 by President Reagan and officially became the 102nd justice and the first female member of the Supreme Court in US History. She was never a radical, never what the right likes to call an "activist judge", but she did make often surprising decisions and displayed her political independence, blazing new trails for women during her time on the Court.
Justice O'Connor was the 5th vote which saved the Roe v Wade decision during its threatened period - the Webster v Reproductive Health Services case in 1989. It was through her efforts that the pro-choice message of Roe v Wade was kept alive. She did, though, side with the majority and vote for blocking a hand recount in Florida and the much ballyhooed 2000 presidential election and was commonly decried by the left as being a poltical conservatice soft on feminist issues.
Unfortunately, it is likely that Roe v. Wade is likely to be the pivotal issue in the choosing of a new Justice by his high holiness, George W. Bush. Right-wing forces which align behind his Bushiness have already raised millions of dollars in preparation for this moment, to support whomever Bush chooses to appoint to take Justice O'Connor's place.
For instance, right-wing advocacy organisation Progress for America has raised $18 million to fight for Bush's nominees, and the Judicial Confirmation Network has raised $3 million to fight any attempts to filibuster a Supreme Court nominee. Said Dr. James Dobson, founder and chairman of the conservative Focus on the Family, O"Cnnor's resignation marks "the resignation of a swing-vote justice on the Supreme Court and the opportunity to change the court's direction" and Richard Land of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, declared, "For President Bush, social conservatives and the senators they helped elect, the moment of truth has arrived".
Rumour has it that on the top of Bush's list of potential nominees is Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzalez. Gonzalez was Bush's counsel when he was Governor of Texas and together the two of them executed more people during their term and had/have mre people on death row than in any other state in history ever. Gonzales' name has been linked to the "torture memos" coming out of Iraq, but apparently is pro-choice and pro-affirmative action.
According to reliable sources, these last two qualities make him a top, yet unlikely candidate. Apparently, the pro-life base of the party would never allow a pro-choice Republican to be appointed to the Supreme Court.
With that news, and last spring's roll in the proverbial hay with Terri Schiavo, the fight for women's reproductive rights in the United States is heating up again. While O'Connor's resignation does not necessarily make Roe v Wade history, it does open up the potential for further shirfts to the right and the eventual attack on women's rights to again occur. The "partial birth abortion" ban (a term which is both invented and fallacious) was recently deemed unconstitutional by a narrow margin of 5 to 4.
While O'Connor's resignation may not lead to the immediate withdrawl of abortion rights for American women, it could easily and quickly lead to greater impediments to abortion access and more restrictions.
The Feminist Majority Foundation is looking for donations to build a Save Roe Campaign and raise awareness about the seriousness of the appointment of a Supreme Court Judge and what is at stake should Bush be able to stack the Court with right -wing anti-choice justices.
For more information or to donate, click HERE
Justice O'Connor was appointed to the Supreme Court in 1981 by President Reagan and officially became the 102nd justice and the first female member of the Supreme Court in US History. She was never a radical, never what the right likes to call an "activist judge", but she did make often surprising decisions and displayed her political independence, blazing new trails for women during her time on the Court.
Justice O'Connor was the 5th vote which saved the Roe v Wade decision during its threatened period - the Webster v Reproductive Health Services case in 1989. It was through her efforts that the pro-choice message of Roe v Wade was kept alive. She did, though, side with the majority and vote for blocking a hand recount in Florida and the much ballyhooed 2000 presidential election and was commonly decried by the left as being a poltical conservatice soft on feminist issues.
Unfortunately, it is likely that Roe v. Wade is likely to be the pivotal issue in the choosing of a new Justice by his high holiness, George W. Bush. Right-wing forces which align behind his Bushiness have already raised millions of dollars in preparation for this moment, to support whomever Bush chooses to appoint to take Justice O'Connor's place.
For instance, right-wing advocacy organisation Progress for America has raised $18 million to fight for Bush's nominees, and the Judicial Confirmation Network has raised $3 million to fight any attempts to filibuster a Supreme Court nominee. Said Dr. James Dobson, founder and chairman of the conservative Focus on the Family, O"Cnnor's resignation marks "the resignation of a swing-vote justice on the Supreme Court and the opportunity to change the court's direction" and Richard Land of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, declared, "For President Bush, social conservatives and the senators they helped elect, the moment of truth has arrived".
Rumour has it that on the top of Bush's list of potential nominees is Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzalez. Gonzalez was Bush's counsel when he was Governor of Texas and together the two of them executed more people during their term and had/have mre people on death row than in any other state in history ever. Gonzales' name has been linked to the "torture memos" coming out of Iraq, but apparently is pro-choice and pro-affirmative action.
According to reliable sources, these last two qualities make him a top, yet unlikely candidate. Apparently, the pro-life base of the party would never allow a pro-choice Republican to be appointed to the Supreme Court.
With that news, and last spring's roll in the proverbial hay with Terri Schiavo, the fight for women's reproductive rights in the United States is heating up again. While O'Connor's resignation does not necessarily make Roe v Wade history, it does open up the potential for further shirfts to the right and the eventual attack on women's rights to again occur. The "partial birth abortion" ban (a term which is both invented and fallacious) was recently deemed unconstitutional by a narrow margin of 5 to 4.
While O'Connor's resignation may not lead to the immediate withdrawl of abortion rights for American women, it could easily and quickly lead to greater impediments to abortion access and more restrictions.
The Feminist Majority Foundation is looking for donations to build a Save Roe Campaign and raise awareness about the seriousness of the appointment of a Supreme Court Judge and what is at stake should Bush be able to stack the Court with right -wing anti-choice justices.
For more information or to donate, click HERE
posted by elise at 2:48 PM
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