ALITO / ABORTION: SUPREME COURT ASSOCIATE JUSTICE THOMAS ...

... recently spoke to law students at the University of Alabama. In his speech he lamented what many on the right and left have lamented: that judicial appointments hinge on a single issue - the appointee's stance on abortion.

"I think we all should be honest with one another that the only issue, the central issue in all of this, is abortion," Thomas said, according to the Associated Press. "It's not the other things that people throw out. The whole judiciary now is being held, in a sense, hostage to that one issue."

It appears abortion indeed will be the focus in the battle over new high court nominee Samuel Alito. Thomas' Nov. 11 comments in Tuscaloosa, Ala., were made only three days before The Washington Times reported Alito wrote in a 1985 application for a Department of Justice position "the Constitution does not protect a right to an abortion." The revelation set off a new round of questioning or criticism by pro-choice senators and abortion rights advocates. Confirmation hearings on Alito are scheduled to begin Jan. 9.

Thomas said some of his former clerks and other lawyers frequently say they are uninterested in being federal judges because of their dread of possible confirmation fights. "I think that's a problem when the stars are beginning to say, 'Thank you, but no thanks,'" said Thomas, who was confirmed by only a 52-48 Senate vote in 1991.

Herein lies a conundrum - those who back off may indeed be some of the best candidates, which means those who are appointed may be some of the poorest candidates. The point is the people get short-changed in the process.

The current system of seeking to investigate every part of a nominee's life should be changed, Thomas said. He has yet to meet a judge who seeks to impose his own agenda through rulings, Thomas told the students.

"The whole process of trying to ferret out the personal agenda through the confirmation process isn't an endeavor that I think is worth the price we are paying," he said. "I think the only thing it does is rats out the agenda of the people asking the questions."

Thomas is right of course, and leaders on both sides of the aisle know it ... but they are trapped by the process. As nation we must remember that the process is there to serve the people not the other way around.

Not only does the molasses-like process not serve justice, it doesn't serve our nation well at all. Find time to tell your representatives and senators that if you agree.

OTHER BLOGS:

Your Honor, My Honor: Meeting Justice Thomas
Clarence Thomas Blasts Confirmation Process

Abortion; Alito; Clarence Thomas; Law school; Politics; Pro-life; Reproductive rights; SCOTUS; University of Alabama