Issue #100

by Art Kelly

1. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has urged its members to contact Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, to request that religiously affiliated hospitals be required to perform abortions.

In an online message, the ACLU stated there was a “need for immediate federal intervention” because religiously affiliated hospitals across the country inappropriately deny “emergency” abortions.

The ACLU cited an incident at the Catholic-owned St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix, Arizona, in which a nun approved an abortion. As a result, she was “forced to resign her position by the local bishop. Subsequently, church leaders defended the decision to demote the nun.”

This was “not an isolated incident,” the ACLU lamented. The organization composed a sample message to send to Sebelius, which states in part:

“Catholic hospitals operate 15% of the hospital beds in the country, and are often the only hospital in a particular community, and therefore the only place where a woman can obtain care. As a result, many pregnant women who seek emergency reproductive health care in Catholic hospitals do not share the religious beliefs of the hospital, and may not receive appropriate medical care.”

2. If Elena Kagan is confirmed to the U.S. Supreme Court, she may not take actions to recuse herself from legal challenges to Obamacare.

The Wall Street Journal notes, “Under federal law (28 U.S.C., 455(b)(3)), judges who have served in government must recuse themselves when they have ‘participated as counsel, adviser or material witness concerning the proceeding or expressed an opinion concerning the merits of the particular case in controversy’."

Kagan has said she'll recuse herself from participating in 11 cases on which she represented the government in her job as Solicitor General. However, during her confirmation hearing, she was never asked if, as part of her duties in the Justice Department, she expressed an opinion on the constiutionality of Obamacare.

Florida, joined by 20 other states, filed suit in March and Virginia filed its own separate suit as well. Kagan was not nominated to the Supreme Court until May 10. The Solicitor General is the third ranking official at the Justice Department and its senior expert on constitutional issues.

In its editorial, the Journal states, “It’s hard to believe she wouldn't have been asked at least in passing about a constitutional challenge brought by so many states. The debate about the suit was well underway in the papers and on TV. The matter surely must have come up at Attorney General Eric Holder's senior staff meetings.”