An abortion rights organization that regards Leon Holmes as "one of Bush's worst picks" has begun a nationwide campaign to block confirmation of the president's nomination of the Arkansas lawyer to the federal bench.
NARAL Pro-Choice America issued an online alert last week asking 600,000 participants in its Choice Action Network to urge their U.S. senators to oppose Holmes' confirmation to a seat on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas.
The request was in addition to about 40,000 letters members already have sent to the Senate in an attempt to block Holmes' confirmation, group spokeswoman Evelyn Becker said.
"He is vehemently anti-choice. (Our) job is to protect the right to choose," Becker said Wednesday.
The head of Arkansas Right to Life accused the abortion rights group of trying to make an example of Holmes.
"Normally that position is not that important on the grand scheme of things. If he were up for the Supreme Court, I could understand the fervor that they've undertaken to block his confirmation," said Rose Mimms, executive director of the state anti-abortion organization. "They're using him as an example of what will happen with other candidates who have a pro-choice philosophy."
Mimms said Thursday the state group she heads and its parent organization, National Right to Life, have marshaled a "massive outpouring of letters, phone calls and emails to the U.S. Senate" in support of Holmes and earlier in opposition to a Democratic filibuster to stall votes on President Bush's judicial nominees.
Holmes would not comment Thursday on the confirmation process or on the specter of his nomination becoming the focus of a national tug-of-war over abortion.
Bush nominated Holmes to the post. A year ago, the Senate Judiciary Committee sent Holmes' nomination to the floor without a recommendation, the first time in 52 years that has happened.
The nomination has languished since then, caught in a dispute between Democrats and Bush over judicial nominations.
In a compromise last week, the administration agreed to not bypass the Senate by appointing judges during recesses in exchange for votes on confirmation of dozens of judicial nominees, Holmes among them.
U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., has said he expects a vote on the confirmation in the coming weeks. Pryor and U.S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., both support Holmes' nomination.
Elizabeth Cavendish, interim president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, called Holmes "one of Bush's worst picks."
Cavendish said her organization "will be doing everything in its power in the coming weeks to ensure that he does not achieve frightening power over women's lives."
The nomination became contentious when Democrats focused on Holmes' interpretation of his Catholic faith and insensitive remarks he made toward rape victims.
Holmes apologized for writing in 1980 that rape victims rarely get pregnant, but said his 1997 comparison of the Catholic Church's subservient relationship with Jesus Christ to a wife's duties to her husband was unfairly taken out of context.
Pryor and Lincoln reviewed Holmes' writings, spoke with him and decided to stand by him. A number of lawyers from Arkansas voiced their support for Holmes, writing to the committee to say Holmes should become a U.S. district judge.
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On the Net:
www.prochoiceamerica.org
http://prochoiceaction.org/campaign/holmes_sen_052004_web.
www.artl.org
www.nrlc.org
