NOW applauds the Senate Judiciary Committee’s affirmative vote today on Supreme Court nominee Solicitor General Elena Kagan. NOW’s National Board voted earlier this month to endorse Kagan to become the next U.S. Supreme Court justice.
NOW’s National Board voted unanimously today to endorse Solicitor General Elena Kagan to become the next U.S. Supreme Court justice. The vote took place in Boston the day before the opening of NOW’s 2010 National Conference.
As the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on Supreme Court nominee Solicitor General Elena Kagan open today, the National Organization for Women promises to closely monitor the proceedings. Kagan’s confirmation would make history, as she would be the third woman to currently serve on the court, increasing the composition of women justices to one-third — more than have ever served at the same time.
The National Organization for Women applauds President Barack Obama’s decision to nominate a woman to follow Justice John Paul Stevens on the U.S. Supreme Court. Upon confirmation by the U.S. Senate, Solicitor General Elena Kagan would join Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sonia Sotomayor to become the third woman currently sitting on the Supreme Court — a historic achievement.
Today we celebrate the 37th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, which recognized a woman’s constitutional right to legal abortion. However, we recognize that in 2010 women’s ability to exercise this basic right is under attack as never before, not only by domestic terrorism but also in the halls of Congress. Just last summer, Wichita physician Dr. George Tiller was murdered as he attended church services, and today his admitted killer is being allowed to make the novel argument that his heinous act was not murder because he was driven by religious zeal. In Washington, after months of debate over health care reform, we find ourselves wondering whether the leadership in Congress and the president we worked so hard to elect in 2008 will ultimately stand up to the Catholic Bishops and other extremists bent on dismantling Roe and reject their demands for sweeping anti-abortion provisions in the reform bill. More than ever, we must fight for women’s fundamental human right to have access to safe and legal abortion.