One News Now: Far-Left Ideologies of Four Justice Nominees a Concern
Ogden, Kagan, Johnsen, & Perrelli -- what sounds like a law firm is actually a group of individuals who Americans should not want taking up office space in the Department of Justice. That's according to the Alliance Defense Fund.
ADF has written a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee about administration appointees to the Justice Department. The letter objects specifically to four nominees: David Ogden, Elena Kagan, Dawn Johnsen and Thomas Perrelli.
Spokesman and ADF attorney Gary McCaleb first points to Ogden, who represented prominent porn industry owners in court. Ogden hopes to be the next deputy attorney general at the DOJ.
"He's sought to strike down even the slightest restrictions on abortion," McCaleb offers, "and he's been probably the biggest friend in America to sexually oriented businesses. If there's a porn store near you, then there's a good chance that Mr. Ogden's advocacy had something to do with allowing that store to be there."
Then there is Harvard Law School dean Elena Kagan, who President Obama has nominated to be Solicitor General of the United States. McCaleb points out that just two years after the attacks on September 11, 2001, she tried to get military recruiters kicked off her campus.
"And when she did so she wound up in the Supreme Court trying to defend that [argument]," says the ADF attorney. "And the court characterized her position as one that would make the statute virtually meaningless. So we have an attorney taking what amounts to a frivolous argument to the Supreme Court, and now that very same person is being asked to step into the Department of Justice."
ADF also objects to the nominations of Dawn Johnsen and Thomas Perrelli to the Department of Justice. McCaleb says their track record is far to the left of center. For example, Johnson is one of the most ardent supporters of abortion, says McCaleb.
"She was staff counsel for the ACLU; she was legal director for the National Abortion Rights Action League -- and basically [she] will not countenance any, any state restriction on abortion," he states. "[She is an] extremely radical leftist and a person who simply does not see the state as having any right to defend life." (Hear audio report)
Finally, the proposed appointment of Thomas Perelli also concerns ADF. As McCaleb explains, Perelli worked tirelessly several years ago to have food and water removed from a brain-damaged Florida woman, Terry Schiavo -- and he succeeded. After a few days she passed away.
"When you see the government taking over a vast portion of our healthcare, I think the last person you would want sitting in the attorney general's office is someone who believes that taking the life of an elderly, ill person is morally permissible."
Johnsen is Obama's pick to be assistant attorney general for the Office of Legal Counsel, and Perrelli has been nominated to the position of associate attorney general.
Each of the four nominees, adds McCaleb, has demonstrated throughout their careers a "flawed understanding" of the U.S. Constitution. Their legal philosophies, he says in a press release, "depart from mainstream views"; the professional careers "reflect a far-left ideology"; and their involvement at the Justice Department "could jeopardize the proper enforcement of federal law and the development of constitutional doctrines."
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