Obama for America

Press Release from NARAL Pro-Choice America

June 27, 2008

The Associated Press is reporting that John McCain is criticizing those who would question his record on judges. To be clear: John McCain's record and public statements read like a Who's Who List of anti-privacy judges.

In short, if you want to know about McCain's philosophy on judges, just ask right-wing activist Gary Bauer:

"I wanted a commitment from either George Bush or John McCain that if elected he would appoint pro-life judges to the Supreme Court... Bush said he had no litmus test, and his judges would be strict constructionists. But McCain, in private, assured me he would appoint pro-life judges."

- Gary Bauer, a social conservative politician who endorsed McCain in his 2000 presidential bid, The New Yorker, May 2005

McCain is using code language to shore up the support of right-wing judicial activists. Legal Analyst Jeffrey Toobin recently wrote about McCain's speech on judges. Here is an excerpt of Toobin's analysis:

Nor were his [McCain's] references to penumbras and emanations accidental. Those words come from Justice William O. Douglas’s 1965 opinion for the Court in Griswold v. Connecticut, in which the Justices recognized for the first time a constitutional right to privacy, and ruled that a state could not deny married couples access to birth control. The “meaning of life” was a specific reference, too. It comes from the Court’s 1992 opinion in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, which reaffirmed the central holding of Roe v. Wade, and forbade the states from banning abortion. In short, this one passage in McCain’s speech amounted to a dog whistle for the right—an implicit promise that he will appoint Justices who will eliminate the right to privacy, permit states to ban abortion, and allow the execution of teen-agers.

 Here is more information about McCain's record on judges:

McCain voted to confirm four anti-choice Supreme Court nominees, including Justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas, and Chief Justice John Roberts. All three voted to uphold the Bush administration's Federal Abortion Ban. www.MeetTheRealMcCain.com 

McCain's website (http://www.johnmccain.com/Informing/Issues/95b18512-d5b6-456e-90a2-12028d71df58.htm)
includes anti-choice rhetoric often used to undermine the constitutional right to privacy: "John McCain believes Roe v. Wade is a flawed decision that must be overturned, and as president he will nominate judges who understand that courts should not be in the business of legislating from the bench."

"I’m proud that we have Justice Alito and Roberts on the United States Supreme Court. I’m very proud to have played a very small role in making that happen." McCain explained further that he "will try to find clones of Alito and Roberts" to fill future court vacancies.

[Transcript, Republican Presidential Candidates Participate in a Debate, May 3, 2007, and Carl Tobias, On judges, don’t doubt McCain’s conservatism: He pledges to appoint clones of Alito and Roberts, Christian Science Monitor, February 11, 2008.]