Tim Wildmon

AFA president

July 2005 – Here we go again. Seventy-three percent of the citizens of Nebraska pass an amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman – and then one day in May, one federal judge overturns it.

I did interviews recently with reporters from ABC World News Tonight and Time magazine. They were asking why some Christian and conservative groups feel so passionately about the issue of federal judges. This was before seven Republicans decided to join seven Democrats in order to prevent a vote that would have ended the filibuster of the president’s nominees, thus giving the judges the courtesy of a vote to confirm or deny.

Forty-eight Republicans were ready to allow conservative judges to be voted on. Seven Republicans – including John McCain, Lindsey Graham, Mike DeWine and John Warner – helped the Democrats keep the filibuster option intact.

What the Democrats in the Senate have done here is unfair and unconstitutional. They suspect that some of President Bush’s judicial appointments are pro-life, so they have just decided they will not let these men and women even have an up or down vote in the Senate. The Democrats call these judges “extremists.” It is an interesting use of the word since a majority of U.S. senators would vote for these nominees if given the opportunity. How can a conservative majority of Americans approve of  extremists? If a majority of Americans approve (Americans did elect a conservative president, House and Senate.), then these judges by definition cannot be considered extreme.

But, in the future, there needs to be no deal making with Democrats on this matter. They started this whole mess by blocking votes on President Bush’s judges. Sen. Bill Frist and the Republicans need to use their majority status to deny the Democrats this blocking of judges who would otherwise receive a majority of votes for confirmation. No apologies. What are the Democrats going to do about it? They had talked of shutting down the government if the Republicans did this. Talk about a nuclear option! They have since backed away from this threat, realizing it would only hurt them with the American people. I say pro-life, pro-family people have worked hard over the last 15 years or so to bring about majorities in the Congress, and now it’s time to use the majority vote on the issue that motivated many people to vote for them in the first place, – ending the reign of pompous liberal activist judges who have lifetime appointments.

The longstanding tradition with respect to presidential judicial appointments in this country has been “to the victor go the spoils.” The Republicans honored that tradition when Democrat Bill Clinton occupied the White House even to the point of confirming former General Counsel of the American Civil Liberties Union Ruth Bader Ginsburg to the Supreme Court by a vote of 96-3! This was in 1993. Think about that. Talk about extreme. The ACLU is about as extremely liberal as organizations come. And yet the Republicans recognized that the American people had voted Mr. Clinton into office, and it was his prerogative and duty to appoint federal judges to the bench and they were not to be denied based on judicial ideology alone. Clinton appointee Stephen Breyer also had no problem being confirmed in 1994 with a majority of Republican senators. This even after the Republicans saw the shameful way Democrats treated Clarence Thomas who barely was confirmed in 1990.

But what has  become apparent for the whole world to see now, is that these liberal groups that claim to promote the advancement of women and minorities in this country don’t really care about that. Clarence Thomas, a black American, was viciously attacked by liberal senators and special interest groups. These groups – including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the National Organization for Women – only care about helping liberal blacks and women. To them, apparently, Clarence Thomas is not really black nor is Janice Rogers Brown. And Priscilla Owen is not really a woman.

Make no mistake about it. This is all about the right to abortion on demand. (And the right to same-sex marriage.) More and more medical science is demonstrating evidence showing abortion for what it actually is – the murder of an innocent human being. And the pro-life argument can prevail at a legislative level if not then struck down by the courts. That’s why judicial appointments are so critical.

The Bible teaches that human life is a gift from God. We must fight to protect it.