In the Courts

Retirement of Justice John Paul Stevens

April 21, 2010
President Barack Obama said he will announce his U.S. Supreme Court nominee by the end of May and insisted his pick must back women's rights but would not have to pass a "litmus test" on the abortion issue.

Background
Justice John Paul Stevens as Abortion-Rights Strategist
Linda Greenhouse

Read the complete article from the UC-Davis Law Review

During his thirty-four years on the Supreme Court, Justice John Paul Stevens has played a significant but largely unrecognized role in the evolution of the Court’s abortion jurisprudence. For example, his behindthe- scenes intervention in 1992 was critical to the outcome in Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey. In Casey, a majority of the Court came together against all expectations to speak with one voice for the preservation of the constitutional right to abortion. Such a role appeared most unlikely at the time of Justice Stevens’s arrival on the Court in December 1975 — he was the first Justice named to the Court since the decision in Roe v. Wade nearly three years earlier — or during the first years of his tenure. The abortion issue had not previously engaged him. In 1985, he observed to his colleagues that he did not know how he himself might have voted had he been on the Court in 1973. But as the abortion issue grew increasingly politicized, and as the Supreme Court found itself enlisted as a prime scene of the conflict over abortion, the middle ground on which Justice Stevens might well have felt comfortable disappeared. When the time came to choose sides, he chose to embrace the full scope of the right to abortion. He became both an indispensable ally to Justice Harry A. Blackmun and a strategic advocate who won the trust of Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, without whose vote the right to abortion would not have been preserved. The purpose of this Article is to trace Justice Stevens’s evolution and to give him his due as an important strategist of abortion rights.
Posted May 7, 2010

RCRC Commends Obama's Nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to U.S. Supreme Court
Statement of Reverend Dr. Carlton W. Veazey, President and CEO, Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice

May 26, 2009
The Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, which advocates for laws and policies that are just and compassionate to families and that accommodate differing religious and moral viewpoints, commends President Barack Obama's nomination to the United States Supreme Court of Judge Sonia Sotomayor, a jurist who has indicated she will apply her personal understanding of the struggles of ordinary Americans to her legal rulings.

With today's historic nomination of federal appeals court judge Sonia Sotomayor, President Obama has fulfilled his promise to appoint a jurist with outstanding legal credentials as well as empathy for the daily struggles of individuals and families. If confirmed for the seat that has been held by Justice David H. Souter, Judge Sotomayor would be the first Hispanic and only the third woman to serve on the nation’s highest court.

In a moving introduction of Judge Sotomayor at the White House this morning, President Obama described the judge as a person who combines great legal acumen and a belief in the rule of law with a common-sense understanding of how the law affects people every day.

In addition to her varied and extensive legal and judicial experience, Judge Sotomayor would bring to the Court the experiences of a person who grew up in a South Bronx public housing project and overcame difficult challenges to achieve academic and professional success. After her father died, the judge's mother struggled to make a good life for her and her brother. Despite the challenges her family faced, Judge Sotomayor attended Princeton and Yale Law School, served as an Assistant District Attorney, worked as a corporate litigator in a New York law firm, and went on to become the first Latina appointed to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.

Judge Sotomayor has said she believes judges' legal findings are informed by their own life experiences as well as their legal research.

The confirmation process will allow the Senate and the American people the opportunity to learn even more about this very impressive woman and jurist.

Justice David Souter to Retire

May 1, 2009

U.S. Supreme Court Justice David Souter will retire at the end of the court's term in June. As a faithful advocate for women and families, the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice urges President Obama to replace the liberal Souter with another consistent supporter of reproductive rights. 
 
The U.S. Supreme Court - the highest court in our land - is the protector of fundamental rights that ensure the safety, security, and freedoms of all Americans. While the Supreme Court supports the underlying principles of Roe v. Wade, it does so by the razor-thin margin of 5-4. (Justice Souter is counted as a supporter of Roe.) Given that narrow balance, President Obama's nominee should recognize that there are a wide range of religious beliefs and moral views about abortion and other reproductive decisions and no one viewpoint should be enshrined in law above all others. The Supreme Court must protect the fundamental right of women to make reproductive health decisions in keeping with their religious beliefs and conscience. 
 
The decisions made by the Supreme Court directly influence the lives of every American, but vulnerable populations often have the most at stake. In recent years, women have lost protections for their reproductive health and safety at the hands of the Supreme Court, and more threats loom on the horizon. 

• Just two years ago, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in Gonzales v. Carhart to uphold the Federal Abortion Ban, which, for the first time, banned a specific medical procedure without an exception for a woman's health.
• Anti-choice forces have been working tirelessly in several states to pass "fetal rights" measures in hopes that such legislation will be challenged in court and the Supreme Court will eventually be forced to reexamine - and overturn - Roe.