President of U.S. Bishops’ Conference to Senate:
Support for Roe v. Wade Should Not Be Used as a Litmus Test for Judicial Nominees
July 6, 2018
WASHINGTON—Cardinal
Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, President of the U.S. Conference of
Catholic Bishops (USCCB), wrote to the members of the Senate on July 6, urging
them not to use support for Roe v. Wade as a litmus test for judicial
nominees in their deliberations about the upcoming vacancy on the Supreme Court
of the United States.
The
letter makes clear that the USCCB “does not support or oppose confirmation of
particular presidential nominees.” Instead, the letter expresses “grave
concerns about the confirmation process…being grossly distorted by efforts to
subject judicial nominees to a litmus test in support of Roe, as
though nominees who oppose the purposeful taking of innocent human life are
somehow unfit for judicial office in the United States.”
“By any
measure,” the Cardinal says, “support for Roe is an impoverished
standard for assessing judicial ability. For forty-five years, Roe has
sparked more informed criticism and public resistance than any other court
decision of the late 20th century.”
The
letter points to decades of polling showing that most Americans oppose Roe’s
policy of unlimited abortion, to a growing number of state legislatures passing
pro-life laws, to mainstream medicine rejecting abortion, and to many legal
scholars who support abortion who have criticized Roe for not being
grounded in the U.S. Constitution.
“If a Supreme Court ruling was
wrongly decided, is widely rejected as morally flawed and socially harmful, and
is seen even by many supporters as having little basis in the Constitution,
these are very good reasons not to use it as a litmus test for future judges.
Further, a nominees’ faith should not be used as a proxy for their views on Roe.
Any religious test for public office is both unjust and unconstitutional.”
The full text of Cardinal DiNardo’s
letter to the Senate is posted at: http://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/human-life-and-dignity/abortion/upload/usccb-president-letter-to-senate-on-judicial-nominees-070618.pdf
For more on the U.S. Bishops’
pro-life efforts, including information on Roe v. Wade, visit: http://www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/human-life-and-dignity/abortion/roe-v-wade.cfm
---
Keywords: U.S. Conference of
Catholic Bishops, USCCB, U.S. Senate, Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo, Congress, Roe
v. Wade, Supreme Court, judicial nominations, litmus test, abortion.
###
MEDIA
CONTACT:
Judy
Keane
O:
202-541-3200
18-117
Sec,DD,DP,DioNews,CathPress,
Hisp, CNS