Both sides on
abortion are stirred to action
By ELIZABETH
LLORENTE, NorthJersey.com, July 7, 2005
Less than a week after Sandra
Day O'Connor announced her retirement from the U.S. Supreme Court,
special interest groups and political leaders in New Jersey are planning
events they hope will influence the selection of her successor.
Both sides of the abortion issue see the next justice as someone who
could overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that legalized the
termination of pregnancies.
The New Jersey chapter of the National Organization for Women plans to
hold "emergency" meetings this weekend to map out ways to rally public
support for a nominee who will uphold Roe v. Wade.
"We find ourselves in a crisis time in this country's history," said
Suzannah Porter, the president of NOW-NJ. "This is someone who may
serve on the court for the next 40 years and affect the entire
reproductive lives of our children and grandchildren."
The advocacy ideas that NOW-NJ members have been floating this week,
Porter said, include a demonstration in front of the federal courthouse
in Newark and an e-mail and letter-writing campaign aimed at the state's
two Democratic senators.
The e-mails and letters would urge Sens. Jon S. Corzine and Frank R.
Lautenberg to resist Republican efforts to put a conservative on the
court.
"We want our senators to hold the line, to turn to filibustering if they
have to, to stay strong because we're at an important crossroads,"
Porter said. "With this vacancy on the court, we have the
opportunity to go forward to provide civil liberties and equal
opportunity to our daughters, or we can go backward."
NOW-NJ is among several pro-choice groups expected to participate today
in a news conference at the State House, where Corzine and Lautenberg
will call on President Bush |to nominate a candidate who will carry on
O'Connor's moderation.
As the least-predictable justice on the deeply divided court, O'Connor
often cast the deciding vote.
"The two senators will call on the president to choose a nominee to the
court who will unite the country, not divide it," the senators' staffs
said in a press release announcing the news conference. "The
senators believe the next justice of the Supreme Court should be someone
who holds the same respect for precedent and judicial independence and
embodies the same values of fairness and equality as Justice O'Connor."
But antiabortion and conservative groups vowed to do everything in their
power to press for a justice who is ideologically to the right of
O'Connor. Although many groups have not yet met, because
O'Connor's stunning announcement came on the eve of the long Fourth of
July weekend, some are planning to get together in the coming week to
discuss how to publicize their concerns.
"We would like to see President Bush fill his promise to appoint a
justice that has the same views as Justice [Antonin] Scalia and Justice
[Clarence] Thomas," said Marie Tasy, executive director of the New
Jersey chapter of Right to Life. "In 1992, Justice O'Connor voted
with the majority to reaffirm Roe vs. Wade, and that was a big
disappointment."
Unlike the pro-choice groups, antiabortion activists say they would
rather bypass the state's senators and direct their message to the White
House.
"Senators Corzine and Lautenberg have been part of the effort of
filibustering President Bush's nominees," Tasy said. "In my
opinion, they haven't represented the interests of New Jersey's
residents very well by participating in that cabal. We recognize
they'll turn a deaf ear on this issue, so we'll be looking to get our
views directly to the president."
Some religious leaders said they want a justice who will be conservative
on reproductive and gay issues but liberal regarding rights for the poor
and ethnic and racial minorities.
"We need a strong conservative on the Supreme Court," the Rev. Miguel
Rivera, president of the National Coalition of Latino Clergy and
Christian Leaders, said of gay rights, same-sex marriage and abortion.
"The executive and legislative branches can bend back and forth from
liberal to conservative, depending on voters' positions. That's
why it's so important to have a conservative justice, for consistency
and assurance that we will maintain the fundamentals upon which this
country was founded."
Other leaders and organizations worry about civil liberties and how the
next justice -- the first to be selected since the Sept. 11, 2001,
terrorist attacks -- will balance security needs and the right to
privacy.
"The biggest concern is that the president won't appoint someone who is
driven by the law and facts, but by an ideological conclusion that
severely limits rights," said Rep. Robert Menendez, D-Hoboken, chairman
of the House Democratic Caucus. "Civil rights are eroding;
individual privacy rights are, too, in the face of constant demands for
greater law enforcement encroachment in the name of security."
The Rev. Reginald Jackson, for one, urged all sides to exercise
restraint. "Those on the left and the right need to stop clamoring
until they see who the president nominates," said Jackson, president of
the Black Ministers Council of New Jersey. "It doesn't do a
country any good for people to be staking out positions before someone
is nominated. If it's someone who brings balance to the court, who
is not too far left or too far right, there'll be decisions some of us
will applaud and others we will not agree with."
E-mail:
llorente@northjersey.com
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