WASHINGTON (ABP) — Documents made public Oct. 18 reveal that Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers supported a constitutional amendment in 1989 that would ban most abortions.
The revelation is almost certain to make her already troubled confirmation much more difficult. And it comes on the heels of reports that some of her advocates assured wavering conservatives of her pro-life credentials.
But other supporters have cautioned that her political views on abortion don't mean she will rule against the legality of the practice as a matter of constitutional law if she is confirmed to the Supreme Court.
When she was a candidate for the Dallas City Council in 1989, Miers responded to several questionnaires, including one from a group called Texans United for Life. In her response to its inquiries — included among documents Miers submitted to the Senate Judiciary Committee — she answered “yes” to the following question:
“If Congress passes a Human Life Amendment to the Constitution that would prohibit abortion except when it was necessary to prevent the death of the mother, would you actively support its ratification by the Texas Legislature?”
She also answered affirmatively to several of the group's other questions.
The news comes the day after a Wall Street Journal columnist reported that two Texas judges attempted to vouch for Miers' pro-life credentials among would-be supporters. John Fund, writing in the Oct. 17 issue of the paper, said the judges spoke on an Oct. 3 conference call designed to reassure conservatives disgruntled with the Miers pick, which President Bush had announced earlier that day.
Fund, who said he obtained detailed notes of the conference call from a participant, said the judges were Texas Supreme Court Justice Nathan Hecht, a longtime friend and fellow church member of Miers in Dallas; and Ed Kinkeade, a Dallas-based federal district judge.
After a “free-wheeling discussion” on several topics important to Christian conservatives, Fund reported, “an unidentified voice asked the two men, 'Based on your personal knowledge of her, if she had the opportunity, do you believe she would vote to overturn Roe vs. Wade?'
“'Absolutely,' said Judge Kinkeade.
“'I agree with that,' said Justice Hecht. 'I concur.'”
Hecht told several news agencies Oct. 17 that he didn't recall the exchange precisely and that, although he considered Miers personally “pro-life,” he wasn't certain how she would rule on a specific case raising abortion rights.
Reporters quizzed White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan about her views on Roe vs. Wade Oct. 18. In response to a question about the 1989 questionnaire, McClellan said, “The role of a judge is very different from the role of a candidate or a political office holder. And what she was doing in that questionnaire was expressing her views during the course of a campaign.”
McClellan went on to imply that Miers could separate her political and personal beliefs about abortion from her responsibility to interpret the law if confirmed to the high court. “The role of a judge is to apply the law in a fair and open-minded way,” he said. “That means looking at the facts, and then applying the law.”
But many Christian conservatives who oppose abortion seem to have been reassured on Miers' credentials by White House officials in recent days. James Dobson, founder of Focus on the Family and a prominent conservative Christian radio broadcaster, has assured his audiences he supports Miers.
And, according to the Florida Times-Union newspaper, Jerry Vines, pastor of First Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Fla., said he had received sufficient assurances on Miers from President Bush's chief political adviser.
The paper reported Oct. 14 that Vines had contacted Karl Rove, the deputy White House chief of staff. “I sent him an e-mail asking him his viewpoint on Miers,” Vines, pastor of one of the nation's largest churches and a former Southern Baptist Convention president, said. “He sent me an e-mail back saying I could be comfortable with her.”
Vines told the paper he was further reassured by talking to the pastor of Miers' longtime church in Dallas, Valley View Christian Church.
“I have mentioned it to our people [in Jacksonville] and have told them that we can hope and pray she will be a good selection,” Vines said. “She has no track record, but all of the indications are that she will be fine,” he added.