Right to Life Week Winds Down.

WorldNetDaily, as usual, maintains a focus on life issues that other sources do not. Two stories today are of interest as Right to Life Week winds down.

A canon lawyer filed a case against John Kerry with the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston last June, alleging that Kerry's stance on abortion was not only inconsistent with his claims of being a practicing Catholic, but amounted to heresy. Apparently, similar charges are being considered for others including Ted Kennedy and Mario Cuomo. While heresy charges are usually reserved for major doctrinal deviations, particularly related to the nature of God, I applaud the attempt to at least apply some standards. It seems every mainline Protestant denomination has struggled or failed to beat back moral cloudiness on this issue. Some have held firm, others have not. Would that all Christian groups would speak with clarity on the most basic human right. Church leaders who can't find clarity on this issue simply should not be in leadership.

Jeb Bush's appeal to the Supreme Court court to stop the starvation of Terry Schiavo will get a thumbs up or down decision as to whether the court will even consider the case. Kudos to Jeb for taking a stand.

It should be no surprise that we learn from the American Spectator that Arlen Spector has appointed an obstructionist, Hannibal Kemerer, to deal with the vetting of judicial nominees. Two quotes from the article are alarming.

"Kemerer was a protégé of Elaine Jones, who three years ago, as head of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, lobbied Sen. Ted Kennedy to delay confirmation of many of President Bush's judicial nominees to a federal circuit court where her group had pending litigation. When Jones and Kennedy's deal was revealed, she was forced to resign."

That raises a basic question of integrity. Why hire someone to work in this very sensitive and explosive arena when he has ties to a conflict of interest situation? While it appears that "officially" Kemerer will be working on issues related to tort reform and civil litigation, according to the article, a move made after word of his hiring leaked, there remains cause for alarm. His position apparently gives him access to all files and briefings of the judiciary committee. Quite a strategic post for an obstructionist. The article adds,

"Specter has further inflamed both the White House and Republican leadership in the Senate by his request that all judicial nominees -- even those who previously were cleared by the Judiciary Committee -- go through committee hearings. This would mean that someone like filibustered Texas supreme court justice Priscilla Owen would have to face full committee once again."

The only reason I can see for bringing nominees to the committee again, is hope that those previously cleared might stumble or that "new information" might mysteriously become available.

I vividly recall Spector's grilling of Robert Bork years ago. I was working a highway construction job away from home and had a lot of time in the hotel at night to watch the hearings and the news reports. While not as infuriating as Ted Kennedy's tactics of reading a long list of accusations and then giving Bork a brief moment to try to respond to a few of them, Specter just seemed out of his league. He asked essentially the same question over and over and Bork, clearly becoming exasperated, kept explaining his position. I thought at the time that Specter must be rather dense, but I am relatively sure he simply wasn't getting the answer he wanted. His vote against Bork did not surprise after watching the hearings. I have not liked or trusted Spector since, and I suspect he is up to no good here as well. He appears to be setting up a structure to continue to obstruct the confirmation process.