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Wednesday, August 06, 2008

Courts - Georgia Appeals Court Candidates Confront Anti-Abortion Group's Survey

Alyson M. Palmer of the Fulton County Georgia Daily Report writes today in a lengthy story:

It's unlikely the Georgia Court of Appeals will ever issue a ruling on whether the state or federal constitution contains a right to abortion. But a Georgia anti-abortion group still wants to know what the seven candidates seeking an open seat on the court think on the hot-button subject.

Georgia Right to Life has sent candidates to succeed Judge John H. Ruffin Jr. a 10-point questionnaire about such topics as whether an unborn child is "biologically human and alive" and how courts should handle lawsuits over infants born with disabilities.

The Court of Appeals generally doesn't have jurisdiction to decide whether statutes -- including those limiting abortion -- are constitutional. And the viability of so-called "wrongful birth" lawsuits by parents of disabled children was effectively squelched by the state Supreme Court in 1990.

But the candidates' reaction to the questionnaire suggests how open they will be to sharing their views on specific issues -- and what they think of traditional warnings to judges not to talk about potential cases.

In 2002, federal courts struck down rules limiting what judicial candidates could say. Since then, some candidates have embraced their freedom to speak out, while others have maintained that judges and candidates risk their impartiality by expressing views on issues that could come before their courts. * * *

The group has presented each candidate with 10 statements, asking them to note whether they agree or disagree with the statement or are undecided or decline to answer. A footnote explains that a "decline" to answer response means the candidate believes he or she must decline because any other response would violate judicial ethics canons or require a subsequent recusal.

Georgia Right to Life is best known for its anti-abortion stance, and several items on the questionnaire deal explicitly with that topic. The group asked under what circumstances abortion should be permitted and whether the state constitution requires the use of public monies for abortion. The questionnaire also asks whether the landmark abortion decision, Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973), was wrongly decided and whether the state constitution protects a right to abortion.

But abortion is not the only issue covered on the questionnaire. It also asks the candidates whether they believe the state constitution protects a right to assisted suicide and whether embryos conceived through in vitro fertilization should be "treated in accord with their best interests in any dispute over their disposition."

See this long list of ILB entries on the Indiana Right to Life case, including most recently this May 18th ILB entry quoting a story by Rebecca S. Green of the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette giving an overview of the issues. Check here to go directly to a copy of the detailed Indiana Right to Life Questionnaire.

Posted by Marcia Oddi on August 6, 2008 09:01 AM
Posted to Courts in general