Reid and Partial Birth Abortion
Reid said “A lot of us wish that Alito weren’t there and O’Connor were there,” indicating his desire that there has been a fifth vote to invalidate the statute, as Justice O’Connor had provided the fifth vote to invalidate Nebraska’s partial-birth abortion ban in Stenberg v. Carhart.What is curious about Reid’s statement, as NPR and some news outlets have noted, is not Reid’s criticism of Alito — Reid opposed Alito’s confirmation — but the fact that Reid supported, and voted for, the federal statute upheld in yesterday’s decision. Reid was one of 17 Senate Democrats voting in favor of the billin 2003.
Granted, it is always easier to throw stones at the other side, but if I was a democrat I would be incensed that Harry Reid voted for a law he thinks is unconstitutional.
I’m not condoning Harry Reid, but in my environmental law class last September we had this discussion over and over again. Senators and Congressmen/women vote for laws all the time they know will be found unconstitutional…I couldnt believe how often it happened in just the small amount of environmental cases we studied.
But it does take some “balls” to go out and publicly acknowledge it like that…but I suspect that is b/c he is majority leader. I would think if he was just a Senator no statement would have been made.