Brownback key to anti-abortion strategy

The Witchita Eagle/Eagle Washington Bureau ^ | 12/22/04 | ALAN BJERGA

[Ellesu]

WASHINGTON - Sen. Sam Brownback's naming to the Senate Judiciary Committee was duly noted in Washington on Tuesday, as the addition of the staunch abortion opponent signaled Republican willingness to take on controversial issues in upcoming judicial nominations.

"He has strong commitments to protecting unborn life," said Diane Knippers, president of the Institute on Religion and Democracy, a Washington D.C.-based conservative church group.

"I think that it signals to people on our side of this debate just how focused the anti-choice movement is on seizing control of the Supreme Court," said David Sedlin, spokesman for NARAL Pro-Choice America, which seeks to prevent restrictions on legal abortion.

Brownback, who easily won re-election to a second full term in the Senate last November, was named Monday to the Judiciary Committee. He's also staying on the Senate Appropriations Committee, but is not continuing on the Foreign Relations Committee, which he has used as a platform to speak on human rights and foreign affairs issues.

The Judiciary Committee holds confirmation hearings for federal judges and will hold confirmation hearings for a new U.S. attorney general early next year. Brownback also served on Judiciary from 2001 to 2003, when he worked on immigration legislation, among other issues.

But the biggest battle possibly looming before the committee in the next Congress is the likely need to replace one or more U.S. Supreme Court justices.

Chief Justice William Rehnquist, 80, is fighting cancer. Three other justices are in their 70s or 80s, and many lawmakers expect that President Bush will soon fill the Supreme Court's first vacancies in more than a decade.

The committee has already been the focus of one controversy since the November election. The new chairman, Arlen Specter, R-Pa., suggested Bush might have difficulty winning confirmation of judges who oppose abortion rights.

Prominent Republicans called for Specter to step down as committee chairman. Specter kept his post by promising to quickly send Bush's nominations to the Senate floor.

Brownback, along with the panel's other new Republican, freshman Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, are well-known for their anti-abortion views. The appointment of those two particular Republicans to the panel, Sedlin said, is a signal to Bush that they want a conservative abortion opponent on the nation's highest court, not a more centrist candidate.

Brownback said he would support judicial nominees "who won't be trying to rewrite the Constitution" -- candidates who "read strictly" the U.S. Constitution and follow its language closely.

He also wants to get Bush's judicial nominations confirmed before the full Senate. Senate Democrats in recent years have used procedural tactics to stall a small number of nominations of conservative judges.

Bob Linder, a professor of religion and politics at Kansas State University, said Brownback's appointment "shores up" conservative strength on an issue -- the federal judiciary -- that's dear to social conservatives.

But he didn't ultimately think Brownback's appointment would lead to major changes in the federal bench, or a more conservative Supreme Court should openings occur.

"I don't think much will really change," he said.

[guitarist]

Brownback and Coburn are fantastic. Period. But Coburn's ill-advised remark that he favors the death penalty for abortionists continues to cause trouble for him and all of us. You win a few, you lose a few.

[mull]

I'm thrilled by the appointment of Brownback and Dr. Coburn to this committee. They should help to provide a good counterweight against Kennedy, Leahy and Schumer.

[Salvation]

Catholic bump for Brownback!