Washington D.C., Jul 6, 2004 / 22:00 pm
The nation's largest pro-life grassroots organization is outraged by members of the United States Senate in their attempts to block the nomination of Catholic, pro-life judge J. Leon Holmes to the federal district court.
"Once again, we are witnessing an outright attack on a judicial nominee because he is openly pro-life and lives by the tenets of his professed Catholic faith," said Joseph M. Starrs, director of American Life League's Crusade for the Defense of Our Catholic Church, in a press release issued yesterday.
According to a recent newspaper article in the Washington Times, opposition to Holmes' nomination is bi-partisan, with Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) trying to convince other senators to vote against the nomination.
Joseph R. Giganti, American Life League's director of media and government relations, said Specter’s actions are not surprising.
"Sen. Specter is the same senator who told C-SPAN in 2001 that he would 'withhold confirmation' from any nominees who refused fidelity to the Roe v. Wade decision," Giganti pointed out in the press release.
The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 10-9 May 1 to send Holmes' nomination to the full Senate without a recommendation of approval, even though Holmes has the full backing of both of his home-state, pro-abortion senators – Sens. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) and Mark Pryor (D-Ark.).
"Senators should reign in their colleagues' pro-abortion zealotry, ending this blatant form of bigotry and apologizing to all Catholics for this disgraceful behavior," said Starrs.