Roundup: Anti-Choice Attack Kagan, Hone Knives For Their Real Battle

Jun 24, 2010, 6:00am

Kagan is in the cross-fire of the anti-choice crowd; and the argument over feminism continues.

They often say that in the summer, the days are longer and the tempers are shorter. no where does that seem more obvious than in the upcoming preparation for Elena Kagan to be confirmed as the next Supreme Court Justice.

It seems like no one is happy — she’s not anti-abortion enough, she’s not pro-choice enough, she’s not open enough, she plays softball. Anything anyone can find to hit on, they are hitting. And, considering we haven’t even started the actual proceedings, you can’t help but wonder how bad it’s really going to get.

USA Today claims that Kagan wants this to be a knock-down, drag out, and wouldn’t have it any other way.

Solicitor General Elena Kagan, the woman President Obama has chosen to be the next Supreme Court justice, long ago laid down a marker for Senate confirmation hearings.

They have become a “hollow charade,” a “ritual dance,” she wrote 15 years ago, complaining that such hearings no longer offered serious discussion of the Constitution. The public should learn something significant about a Supreme Court nominee, Kagan asserted, noting that the person is headed for a lifetime “seat of power and a public trust.”

As her own hearings begin Monday, the challenge for Kagan — a Manhattan native and former dean of Harvard Law School who has strategically climbed the legal ladder — will be to follow that ideal without sparking new criticism and derailing her nomination.

The stakes are high all around — for Kagan, the Senate Judiciary Committee and the American people.

So, who is making the most public noise? Surprise! It’s the anti-choice activists!

Lifenews has become the fountainhead of anti-choice anti-Kagan articles, making it easy to track the movements gameplay. First, there’s the general “She should not be confirmed” route.

The National Right to Life Committee sent a letter today to members of the Senate expressing its strong opposition to the nomination of Elena Kagan for the Supreme Court. NRLC joins other pro-life groups in opposing Kagan and saying writings and documents from her during her time with the Obama and Clinton administrations point to aggressive abortion support and promotion.

After analyzing various memoranda and other material written by Kagan during her tenure on the White House staff of President Bill Clinton in the late 1990s, and her writings as a clerk to late pro-abortion Justice Thurgood Marshall, NRLC says Kagan should not be confirmed.

“Our conclusion is that Elena Kagan is first and foremost a social engineer, animated primarily by a desire to shape public policy on a host of issues,” NRLC wrote to senators. “Her legal training and talent is chiefly directed to these ends.”

The next branch of attack? Our “experts” think she shouldn’t be confirmed, including failed Supreme Court nominees!

Former Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork held a conference call with officials from Americans United for Life on Wednesday to officially announce his opposition to President Barack Obama’s nominee Elena Kagan.  Journalists from a variety of publications participated in the conference call because of Bork’s credentials and his status as a pro-life nominee who was the subject of considerable controversy.

And no, apparently Harriet Miers has not weighed in yet, but I’m sure you are as anxious as I am to hear her opinion, too.

Think all of that sounds bad? Well, this is just warm up. Just wait until Justice Kennedy retires from the court — that’s when we wil have the mother of all confirmation showdowns, according to the site.

At a forum on Tuesday night, pro-abortion former acting Solicitor General Walter Dellinger predicted the Supreme Court will eventually overturn the Roe v. Wade decision that allowed 52 million abortions in the United States and has impacted other nations across the world. Dellinger’s comments are surprising as most abortion advocates don’t readily admit the day may come that the infamous decision will be struck down and states may be able to offer legal protection for women and unborn children.

“I absolutely believe it,” Dellinger said during the forum cosponsored by the news web site Politico.

Dellinger said he thinks the Supreme Court will overturn Roe once pro-life advocates can find a replacement for Justice Anthony Kennedy, who sided with the majority of the court in upholding the ban on partial-birth abortions but will not side with the other four conservative jurists on overturning Roe.

He called the decision a “trophy” and said the other justices, Antonin Scalia, John Roberts, Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito, would love to be able to go back on the 1973 decision.

“For a while I thought that one could simply chip away at a lot more and more regulations that sort of protected access (to abortions) for the most affluent women but really made it impossible for women who were vulnerable to geography, poverty (and) youth,” he added. “But now I think that, actually, it is such a symbol of a kind of jurisprudence that conservatives have set themselves in opposition to.”

Politico interviewed Rachel Brand, the former assistant attorney general under pro-life President George W. Bush, and helped with the confirmation of Justices Roberts and Alito, said the nomination battle over a replacement to Justice Anthony Kennedy will be monstrous.

“I will say that whenever Justice Kennedy retires, if the court looks anything like it does now in terms of makeup, that will be the mother of all confirmation fights. That will be brutal, and I wouldn’t want to be in my old job for that one,” he said.

Mini Roundup: Some are still arguing that you can be a feminist and anti-abortion. Washington Post columnist Kathleen Parker claims a case can be made, but feminist icon Gloria Steinem says no way.

June 23, 2010

Study finds link in abuse, abortion – UI The Daily Iowan

Steinem criticizes Palin for using feminist brand – Los Angeles Times

Abortion ‘could triple risk of breast cancer’ – Daily Mail

So Kendrick Meek is Suddenly Pro-Choice? – Firedoglake

How Not to Have Sex in Colorado: the Personhood Amendment – Huffington Post

G8 maternal health initiative draws flak – CBC.ca

Renowned Singer Andrea Bocelli Tells Abortion Story – Christian Post

AZ nun’s OK of abortion stirs global debate – Arizona Republic

Pro-Life Organization Tells Senators Oppose Pro-Abortion Elena Kagan on … – LifeNews.com

Gloria Steinem, Kathleen Parker weigh in on feminism and abortion – True/Slant

Yarbro Hits Henry on Abortion, the Environment and Health Care – Nashville Scene