Right-Wing Federal Appeals Court Judge Would Help Destroy Roe and Other Landmark Precedent
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: February 1, 2017 | CONTACT: Jeremy Leaming or [email protected]
Washington – The National Health Law Program (NHeLP) joins with other progressive and liberal public interest groups in condemning the Trump administration’s selection of federal appeals court Judge Neil Gorsuch to fill a seat on the U.S. Supreme court, and urges Senate Democrats to block that nomination.
“Our nation and our constitutional rights would be better off with a 4-4 Supreme Court,”National Health Law Program (NHeLP) Executive Director Elizabeth G. Taylor said. “From the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit, Judge Gorsuch lodged a concurring opinion that said the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act should trump health care requirements of the landmark reform law, the Affordable Care Act. Judge Gorsuch sided with employers who, citing their personal religious beliefs, sought an exemption from the ACA’s mandate that employee health plans provide access to free contraceptives. With an administration vowing to limit women’s constitutional right to abortion care, no senator committed to protecting health and constitutional rights of women should give this administration’s nominees an easy path to the high court. Indeed, many would argue that lawmakers who care about the rights of women should be moved to make it difficult, if not impossible, for this administration to shape the Supreme Court.”
Taylor added, “Senators, especially Democrats, should not feel compelled to move quickly on the Gorsuch nomination. The radical obstruction of the nomination of D.C. Circuit Chief Judge Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court in 2016 should be looked at afresh in the circumstances we now find ourselves. As Sen. Patrick Leahy notes, Republicans “abdicated the Senate’s constitutional role by choosing a politically charged obstruction, so that a president who lost the popular vote could nominate extreme candidates to the Supreme Court.’”
Please contact the NHeLP Communications department at [email protected] or 202-552-5176 for further comment regarding the Trump administration’s SCOTUS nomination.
