White House claims no Roe v. Wade ‘litmus test’ for Sotomayor
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White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs

Washington D.C., May 30, 2009 / 03:49 pm (CNA).- President Barack Obama never asked U.S. Supreme Court nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor whether she supports the pro-abortion rights Supreme Court ruling Roe v. Wade, a White House spokesman said on Wednesday.

“The president doesn’t have a litmus test and that question was not one that he posed to her,” White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters, CNSNews.com says. The 1973 decision Roe v. Wade struck down most state laws restricting or prohibiting abortion. Nominations to the high court consistently attract speculation about what effects the new justice may have on efforts to overturn or reaffirm the precedent-setting ruling.

In Senate confirmation hearings of recent Republican nominees to the court, nominees refused to state their view of Roe v. Wade on the stated grounds that doing so would appear prejudicial if any abortion-related cases were to come before the high court.

On Thursday the New York Times said that pro-abortion activists are “quietly expressing unease” that Judge Sotomayor might not be a “reliable vote” to uphold Roe v. Wade.

Nancy Keenan, President of NARAL Pro-Choice America, said her group was looking forward to learning more about the nominee’s views on “the right to privacy and the landmark Roe v. Wade decision” in Senate hearings.

According to the New York Times, Keenan is pressing senators to make discussion about Roe v. Wade part of the nomination hearings before they vote to confirm Judge Sotomayor.

The nominee has never directly ruled on the constitutionality of abortion. She has ruled against one pro-abortion group’s claim that the Mexico City Policy was unconstitutional, but did so on the grounds of existing precedent.

President Obama has described Sotomayor as having “respect for precedent and a determination to faithfully apply the law to the facts at hand.”

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Subscriber comments:
Published by: Obamamama
Youngstown/Ohio/USA 05/31/2009 05:50 AM EST
I cannot understand why anyone has a question about Sotomayor's position on the abortion issue. I see this question popping up all over the Web on both sides and I can only imagine Obama and his cronies giggling their silly little heads off! Why is anyone wondering about this???? This is just another example of the kind of thinking and behavior that got Obama elected and people are doing it all over again!! As thick as their skulls are, their brains must be the size of peas!! Almost everyone Obama has appointed, even in lower-level positions, has been pro-abortion. So, why would anyone ever imagine that Sotomayor, probably the most important and influential appointment Obama will make in his presidency, is NOT pro-abortion?! I can imagine the doubters getting up every morning and anxiously waiting at their windows to see if the sun will rise! What a joy it must be for them when it does!! This is EXACTLY the kind of poor-reasoning-based-on-wishful-thinking-as-justification-for-circumventing-common-sense that keeps getting people into messes -- I really do wish they would stop.
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