Judges' Financial Information Sought by Democrats and Pro-Abortion Allies

Robert Novak is reporting that several federal judges who are potential Supreme Court nominees have been targeted for probes of their financial disclosure records by former employees of Democrat Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid. For whom are these former Democrat staffers conducting this "research"? I think we can assume that they are still working for Reid, but they also have as their client a pro-abortion special interest group:

On May 5, the U.S. Judicial Conference in Washington received a request from a Mike Rice of Oakland, Calif., for the financial disclosure records of U.S. Appeals Court Judge Edith Jones (5th Circuit) of Houston. A 20-year veteran on the bench, Jones is a perennial possibility for the U.S. Supreme Court. The demand for her personal records is part of a major intelligence raid preceding momentous confirmation fights in the Senate.

Jones was not alone as a target, and Rice is not just a nosy citizen. He and Craig Varoga, a former aide to Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, are partners in a California political consulting firm. Their May 5 petition requested financial information on 30 appellate judges in all but one of the country's judicial circuits, including nine widely mentioned Supreme Court possibilities. Varoga & Rice's client: NARAL Pro-Choice America.

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In addition to Judge Jones, papers filed by Varoga & Rice asked for information from eight other appellate judges who are considered possible Supreme Court candidates. They include the veteran James Harvie Wilkinson, who has served on the 4th Circuit in Charlottesville, Va., for 21 years. Other veteran judges targeted by Varoga & Rice who were on the bench prior to this administration include Emilio Garza (5th Circuit) of San Antonio, J. Michael Luttig (4th Circuit) of Alexandria, Va., and Samuel Alito (3rd Circuit) of Philadelphia.

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One of the appellate judges who learned that his financial records were sought by a Democratic political consulting firm told a friend that he felt violated by this political intrusion. He did not know that the firm's client was NARAL.

The abortion advocacy group surely was not asking the judges' views on abortion. Nancy Keenan, who has been NARAL's president some five months, told this column her organization is concerned about "out of touch theological activists" becoming judges. Why seek financial information from them? She said the disclosure information might help identify the "character" of judicial nominees.

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What additional information about sitting judges is being sought by Varoga & Rice is unknown. But Reid is clearly into probing the detailed backgrounds of nominees. Asserting that Democrats would probably filibuster Michigan appellate nominee Henry Saad, he explained: "All one needs to do is have a member go upstairs and look at his confidential report from the FBI, and I think we would all agree that there is a problem there." The minority leader's statement shocked colleagues, but it may well be a taste of much more of the same to come.

My Comments:
The Democrats and their pro-abortion allies will stop at nothing to destroy the President's judicial nominees.