McCain To Discuss His Principles Regarding Appointment Of Supreme Court Justices

Main Category: Women's Health / Gynecology
Also Included In: Sexual Health / STDs;  Abortion
Article Date: 07 May 2008 - 6:00 PDT

email to a friend   printer friendly   view / write opinions   rate article

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) plans to address his judicial philosophy and the principles he would use to appoint Supreme Court justices in a Tuesday speech at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C., the Wall Street Journal reports. A McCain adviser said the philosophy includes "strict interpretation of the Constitution" and opposition to "judicial activism" (Meckler, Wall Street Journal, 5/6).

McCain's prepared remarks say that he would appoint justices who are similar to Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Samuel Alito and who likely would limit the reach of Roe v. Wade (Quaid, AP/Google.com, 5/6). "I will look for people in the cast of John Roberts, Samuel Alito and ... [former Chief Justice] William Rehnquist," McCain's says in the prepared remarks. He adds that he would "look for accomplished men and women with a proven record of excellence in the law and a proven commitment to judicial restraint."

McCain's speech also criticizes Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) and Barack Obama (D-Ill.) for voting against the nomination of Roberts and Alito, Reuters reports. Referring to Obama, McCain says, "Apparently, nobody quite fits the bill (for the court) except for an elite group of activist judges, lawyers and law professors who think they know wisdom when they see it -- and they see it only in each other" (Reuters, 5/6). Although both Clinton and Obama voted against Roberts' nomination to the Supreme Court, McCain's speech focuses his criticism of the Roberts vote on Obama, the AP/Google.com reports. McCain said that Obama "went right along with the partisan crowd and was among the 22 senators to vote against" Roberts.

The AP/Google.com notes that despite McCain's reputation as independent, his actual record is very conservative, particularly on social issues such as abortion rights. A 1999 comment McCain made that Roe v. Wade should not be overturned was a "blip in an otherwise unbroken record of opposing abortion rights," the AP/Google.com reports. McCain has repeatedly voted against federal funding for abortions; opposed federal Medicaid funds for abortions, even in cases of rape or incest; voted to require parental consent for minors seeking abortions; and voted to criminalize anyone but parents crossing state lines with minors to help get abortions. McCain also supported a ban preventing women in the military from getting abortions with their own money at overseas military hospitals.

Democratic National Committee spokesperson Karen Finney noted that McCain has never voted against a Republican nominee for the Supreme Court or other federal courts, adding, "Promising four more years of radical judges who are bent on rolling back our basic rights and freedoms is just one more example of why John McCain is the wrong choice for America's future" (AP/Google.com, 5/6).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org. You can view the entire Daily Women's Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women's Health Policy Report is a free service of the National Partnership for Women & Families, published by The Advisory Board Company.

© 2008 The Advisory Board Company. All rights reserved.