Newly released documents show that US Supreme Court nominee Harriet Miers pledged support in 1989 for a constitutional amendment that would ban abortions except when necessary to save the life of the mother.
Miers' position on abortion has been the source of intense speculation in Washington and could determine whether she would be confirmed by the Senate -- and, ultimately, whether the US' top court shifts to the right.
She made her views known in a questionnaire completed when she was a candidate for the Dallas city council in Texas. The White House submitted it on Tuesday to the Senate Judiciary Committee, which is expected to hold hearings on her Supreme Court nomination next month. The one-page questionnaire was filled out and unsigned, but the Bush administration affirmed its authenticity.
In the questionnaire, Miers also signaled her support for the overall agenda of the Texans United for Life anti-abortion group, agreeing that she would support legislation to restrict abortions should the Supreme Court rule that states could ban abortions and would participate in "pro-life rallies and events."
Abortion is one of the most divisive issues in US society. It hangs over Miers' nomination because she would succeed retiring Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who has voted to uphold abortion rights. An anti-abortion justice could tip the court's balance, leading it to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision guaranteeing abortion rights.
In the court's latest case involving abortion, the justices ruled on Monday against an anti-abortion governor and said his state must let a pregnant prison inmate terminate her pregnancy. All nine justices, including US President George W. Bush's first Supreme Court selection, Chief Justice John Roberts, voted to let the woman have an abortion.
Bush's nomination of Miers has been sharply criticized by conservatives, who had wanted a candidate clearly opposed to abortion and aligned with them on other issues. In rare criticism from Bush's political base, some have depicted her as a crony of the president who lacks the credentials to sit on the high court.
It is not clear whether the 1989 questionnaire will ease their misgivings. A major Democrat who supports abortion rights, Senator Dianne Feinstein, said it shows Miers opposes Roe v. Wade.
"This raises very serious concerns about her ability to fairly apply the law without bias in this regard. It will be my intention to question her very carefully about these issues," said Feinstein, who is the only woman on the Judiciary Committee.
SUPPORT: Elon Musk’s backing for the far-right AfD is also an implicit rebuke of center-right Christian Democratic Union leader Friedrich Merz, who is leading polls German Chancellor Olaf Scholz took a swipe at Elon Musk over his political judgement, escalating a spat between the German government and the world’s richest person. Scholz, speaking to reporters in Berlin on Friday, was asked about a post Musk made on his X platform earlier the same day asserting that only the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party “can save Germany.” “We have freedom of speech, and that also applies to multi-billionaires,” Scholz said alongside Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal. “But freedom of speech also means that you can say things that are not right and do not contain
Two US Navy pilots were shot down yesterday over the Red Sea in an apparent “friendly fire” incident, the US military said, marking the most serious incident to threaten troops in over a year of US targeting Yemen’s Houthi rebels. Both pilots were recovered alive after ejecting from their stricken aircraft, with one sustaining minor injuries. However, the shootdown underlines just how dangerous the Red Sea corridor has become over the ongoing attacks on shipping by the Iranian-backed Houthis despite US and European military coalitions patrolling the area. The US military had conducted airstrikes targeting Yemen’s Houthi rebels at the
Pulled from the mud as an infant after the devastating Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004 and reunited with his parents following an emotional court battle, the boy once known as “Baby 81” is now a 20-year-old dreaming of higher education. Jayarasa Abilash’s story symbolized that of the families torn apart by one of the worst natural calamities in modern history, but it also offered hope. More than 35,000 people in Sri Lanka were killed, with others missing. The two-month-old was washed away by the tsunami in eastern Sri Lanka and found some distance from home by rescuers. At the hospital, he was
MILITANTS TARGETED: The US said its forces had killed an IS leader in Deir Ezzor, as it increased its activities in the region following al-Assad’s overthrow Washington is scrapping a long-standing reward for the arrest of Syria’s new leader, a senior US diplomat said on Friday following “positive messages” from a first meeting that included a promise to fight terrorism. Barbara Leaf, Washington’s top diplomat for the Middle East, made the comments after her meeting with Ahmed al-Sharaa in Damascus — the first formal mission to Syria’s capital by US diplomats since the early days of Syria’s civil war. The lightning offensive that toppled former Syrian president Bashar al-Assad on Dec. 8 was led by the Muslim Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which is rooted in al-Qaeda’s
RSS