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Note #8998 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

05586
Oct. 28, 2005

Divided religious conservatives hope
to unite behind a new high court nominee

'It is not often that you have the opportunity to correct a bad decision'

by Adelle M. Banks
Religion News Service
	 
WASHINGTON -¾ Now that Harriet Miers has withdrawn as a candidate for the
Supreme Court, religious conservatives appear eager to unite behind a nominee
considered likely to rule their way on such hot-button issues as abortion,
gay rights and church-state separation.
	 
	"We are assured that the president will keep his promise to nominate
a strict constitutionalist who will uphold the principles that have made
America great, and not legislate from the bench," said Wendy Wright,
executive vice president of Concerned Women for America. "We stand ready to
support a nominee who truly is in the mold of Antonin Scalia or Clarence
Thomas."
	 
	Wright echoed comments from other leading religious conservatives,
who had been split over President Bush's nomination of Miers. At first, some
had been disturbed because they didn't know how Miers would rule on key
social issues. Later, conservative opposition was galvanized when it was
revealed that she had said more than a decade ago that she believed
"self-determination" should guide decisions on abortion.
	 
	Now that her controversial nomination has been withdrawn,
conservatives are hopeful that Bush will choose someone with a perspective on
judicial matters that is close to their own.
	 
	Concerned Women for America, a conservative group based in
Washington, had called for Miers' withdrawal the day before she made the
move. Liberty Counsel, a Florida-based national litigation organization, had
made a similar call earlier in the month.
	 
	"I urge the president to keep his campaign promise to appoint
justices who respect the rule of law and who will remain loyal to the purpose
and intent of the Constitution," said Mathew D. Staver, president and general
counsel of Liberty Counsel. "It is not often that you have the opportunity to
correct a bad decision, but this is exactly the opportunity afforded to the
president."
	 
	Jay Sekulow, chief counsel of the American Center for Law and Justice
in Washington, who had supported Miers' nomination, commended her for putting
the country's interests ahead of her own, then added: "I have no doubt that
the president will put forth a nominee who has a conservative judicial
philosophy - someone who will not legislate from the bench. The American
Center for Law and Justice will continue to support the president as he seeks
to identify and nominate solid judicial conservatives for the federal
courts."
	 
	The Rev. Louis P. Sheldon, chairman of the Washington-based
Traditional Values Coalition, also said he appreciated Miers' "unselfish
action." He said the choice of the next nominee "will be the most important
decision of Mr. Bush's presidency."
	 
	"I trust that he will find someone who, like him, is a person of
strong and identifiable principles - one who has participated fully in the
important public policy debates," Sheldon said.
	 
	James Dobson, an influential religious broadcaster, expressed relief
that Miers had withdrawn.

	Dobson had disclosed on his national radio program, "Focus on the
Family," that presidential adviser Karl Rove had called him before the choice
of Miers was publicly announced, and told him that Miers was an evangelical
Christian who attended "a very conservative church, which is almost
universally pro-life."
	 
	Partly because of what he'd heard from Rove, Dobson publicly
supported Miers; but he said Thursday that his support was only "tentative."
	
	"In recent days, I have grown increasingly concerned about her
conservative credentials, and I was dismayed to learn this week about her
speech in 1993, in which she sounded pro-abortion themes and expressed so
much praise for left-wing feminist leaders," Dobson said. "Based on what we
now know about Miss Miers, it appears that we would not have been able to
support her candidacy."
	 
	Miers' evangelical Christian background was highlighted by the White
House. Bush told reporters, "Part of Harriet Miers' life is her religion."
Critics, and even some Bush supporters, took issue with that approach, saying
it was hypocritical for the White House to contend that Supreme Court Chief
Justice John Roberts' Catholicism should be off-limits during his nomination
hearings, then make a public issue of Miers' evangelical faith.
	
	 Among the most outspoken critics were church-state separation
groups.

	"Harriet Miers' withdrawal shows the disproportionate power of the
religious right on the Bush administration," said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn,
executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.
"... She seems to have been forced out because she was insufficiently
far-right on abortion, gay rights and church-state separation. This is
appalling. I hope President Bush now selects someone who is ... abundantly
qualified and possesses a clear commitment to individual freedom."
	 
	After Miers' withdrawal, the Rev. C. Welton Gaddy, president of the
Interfaith Alliance, urged members of his organization to contact Bush and
members of Congress to urge that religion not be used for partisan purposes.
	 
	"The Interfaith Alliance will again urge President Bush to nominate a
justice not based on his or her religious faith but on judicial
qualifications and a commitment to defend the Constitution and its guarantee
of religious liberty for all Americans," Gaddy said.

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