The Feminist Majority joined a group of women’s rights, civil rights, consumer rights, environmental, labor and other progressive groups in a press conference Friday in Los Angeles to oppose President Bush’s nomination of anti-women judicial nominee Carolyn Kuhl to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Kuhl, who has a long record of opposing reproductive rights such as contraception, is the latest example of Bush’s effort to stack the nation’s courts with far-right ideologues.
“Senator (Diane) Feinstein (D-CA) and members of the Senate Judiciary Committee must oppose judges who will take away women’s rights and roll the clock backwards,” said Katherine Spillar, executive vice-president of the Feminist Majority. “Carolyn Kuhl has openly stated that she believes Roe vs. Wade was wrongly decided.”
As a member of the Reagan administration’s Department of Justice, Kuhl coauthored an amicus brief in the case of Thornburgh v. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists urging full-scale rejection of Roe vs. Wade – the 1973 US Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion rights in this country. She also filed an amicus brief on behalf of the American Academy of Medical Ethics in support of the gag ruleÑthe US policy that prevents clinics receiving US funds from providing, counseling, or promoting abortion, even if these activities are funded with separate monies. Kuhl also has argued for a narrower definition of sexual harassment.
Kuhl was originally nominated by Bush to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in June 2001. However, Kuhl’s nomination was stopped when Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) blocked her hearing in the then-Democratic controlled Judiciary Committee. While Boxer continues to oppose Kuhl’s nomination, Feinstein has yet to comment.
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