Obama seeks court nominee who backs women's rights

[defendandprotect]

Obama seeks court nominee who backs women's rights

By BEN FELLER, Associated Press Writer Ben Feller, Associated Press Writer – 14 mins ago
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama, treading carefully in the explosive arena of abortion and the Supreme Court, said Wednesday he will choose a nominee who pays heed to the rights of women and the privacy of their bodies. Yet he said he won't enforce any abortion rights "litmus tests."

Obama said it is "very important to me" that his court choice take women's rights into account in interpreting the Constitution, his most expansive comments yet about how a woman's right to choose will factor into his decision.

He plans to choose someone to succeed Justice John Paul Stevens within "the next couple weeks," he told CNBC.

Obama accelerated his political outreach and his conversations with candidates, positioning himself for one of the most consequential decisions of his presidency. He invited Senate leaders — Republicans as well as Democrats — to discuss the issue at the White House and commented briefly to reporters before their private meeting.

His rejection of the idea of "litmus tests" was standard presidential language, keeping him from being boxed in and protecting his eventual nominee from charges of bringing preconceived decisions to the bench.

Obama's pick is not expected to change the ideological balance on the court, though Stevens, the leader of the court's liberals, has played a major role in the court's upholding of abortion rights. Stevens, who turned 90 on Tuesday, is retiring this summer.

Whoever Obama picks has the potential to affect the lives and rights of Americans for a generation or more.

The president is considering about 10 people, including a newly confirmed name, federal appeals court Judge Ann Williams of Chicago.

Among the others are appeals court judges Diane Wood, Merrick Garland and Sidney Thomas, former Georgia Chief Justice Leah Ward Sears, Solicitor General Elena Kagan, Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Harvard Law School Dean Martha Minow.

When asked if he could nominate someone who did not support a woman's right to choose, Obama said: "I am somebody who believes that women should have the ability to make often very difficult decisions about their own bodies and issues of reproduction."

He said he would not judge candidates on a single-issue abortion test.

"But I will say that I want somebody who is going to be interpreting our Constitution in a way that takes into account individual rights, and that includes women's rights," Obama said. "And that's going to be something that's very important to me, because I think part of what our core constitutional values promote is the notion that individuals are protected in their privacy and their bodily integrity. And women are not exempt from that."

Such a detailed answer raised the question of whether Obama had, in fact, spelled out a fundamental test over abortion. The White House rejected that.

"I think a litmus test is when you say, will you ask a direct question about — do you believe this? Do you believe that?" White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said. "I think the president will ask any nominee discuss how they view the Constitution and the legal principles enshrined in it."




Obama seeks court nominee who backs women's rights
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_obama_supreme_court

[ShortnFiery]

1. But no litmus test on *Abortion* = A woman's right to choose. eom

[defendandprotect]

2. IMO, there should be a litmus test re Roe vs Wade . . .

Why shouldn't we seek a Justice who would uphold the law?


:)

[waiting for hope]

3. Agreed. Roe v Wade is still law ..

for now .. ;(

[cali]

4. are you truly that unable to read the glaringly obvious between the lines?