Obama Culture of Death Update™: Will Obama Pick Judge Diane Wood for Supreme Court?

Thomas Peters is reporting that President Obama may be leaning toward picking a radically pro-abortion judge to fill the Supreme Court vacancy left by the retiring Justice Stevens:

The buzz around DC is that Diane Wood is in the final run-off for President Obama’s next Supreme Court nominee pick.

She would be the worst possible choice for life issues, because as Bill Saunders wrote for APP, she has the most radical views:

But probably no one, at least at the top of most short-lists, would elicit the fight that Wood would provoke. She is a sitting appellate judge (the 7th Circuit), and she has a record of rather outrageous opinions – she dissented against partial-birth abortion bans in Illinois and Wisconsin, and dissented against an informed consent law in Indiana that was nearly identical to one upheld by the Supreme Court in Planned Parenthood v. Casey. Wood even ruled that the federal law designed to counter organized crime, the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), was properly applied against pro-life demonstrators – an opinion summarily rejected by the Supreme Court.

If Obama, who it is reported is “impressed” by Wood, nominates her to be the next Supreme Court Justice, he will only further cement his reputation as the most pro-abortion President to date. This even as the number of Americans who want to see Roe v. Wade overturned reaches a new high. The majority of Americans sure wouldn’t be impressed by Wood (or Obama’s) views on abortion and the law.

My Comments:
For those pro-life activists who I warned against going on the attack with Sandra Sotomayor's nomination: THIS is the person (should she be nominated) that you want to go after with EVERYTHING YOU HAVE.

Diane Wood is, indeed, a judicial radical with the intellectual bona fides to shift the Court SIGNIFICANTLY to the left. Our friend, Steve Dillard, refers to Wood as a "brilliant radical". She is manifestly pro-abortion, as her record shows. Wood would vote to strike down anything remotely seen as a restriction on unfettered access to abortion on demand at any time, for any reason, and using any gruesome procedure (such as partial birth abortion).

I'm not sure the GOP would have much success derailing the noimination, but they may be able to peal off enough Southern and Midwestern Democrats who want to make amends to angry constituents for their Obamacare votes to make it a little bit of a closer vote. And maybe there would be enough of a public backlash against Wood's radical views - assuming those opposing the nomination can successfully bring those views to the fore - that a big confirmation battle could pay dividends.


This Obama Culture of Death Update™ has been brought to you by Douglas Kmiec, all the fine folks at Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good / Catholics United / Catholic Democrats, and countless other Catholics for whom "Hope" and "Change" trumped LIFE.