When a federal judge ordered the FDA to give 17-year-olds over-the-counter access to the “Plan B” morning-after pill, the Religious Right was predictably quick to criticize the ruling, saying it could lead to, among other things, minors being coerced into abortions by sexual predators.
Interestingly, the Family Research Council is channeling its outrage in another direction as well and trying to use the decision to demonstrates to its supporters the importance of the issue of judicial nominations:
Exactly how important are the President's judicial nominees? In New York, U.S. District Judge Edward Korman provides a perfect example. Yesterday, the Brooklyn-based Korman unleashed a 52-page order that overrides the judgment of the entire U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The lawsuit involves the availability of Plan B, also known as the morning-after pill, to minors.
Apparently, Korman is just another one of those liberal, Democratically-appointed judicial activists who use the bench to further their own agenda.
Judge Korman was appointed United States District Judge for the Eastern District of New York on November 4, 1985 and entered on duty December 16, 1985.
Meaning, of course, that Korman was appointed by President Ronald Reagan and confirmed by a Senate controlled by Republicans.
Considering that FRC has already made clear that it is going to oppose President Obama’s first judicial nominee, David Hamilton, it’s difficult to imagine that FRC’s effort to tie this decision to the importance of a “President’s judicial nominees” was anything but an attempt to use a decision by a Reagan-appointed judge in order to bolster its own opposition to President Obama’s first judge.
Good luck with that.
