By Nancy Thorner –
Tomorrow, January 31, 2017, will be a momentous day for pro-life conservatives. It is then that President Trump plans to make known his choice to replace the vacancy of Anthoin Scalia on the Supreme Court.
There is now more to consider since the publication of my most recent article on the same issue at Illinois Review on January 25, 2017: "Thorner: Latest contender to replace Scalia, Judge Neil Gorsuch, is not pro-life."
Time has just about run out. We are only a day away from President Trump being misled and pressured to make the same mistake that the first Bush made. David Souter was the stealth nominee pushed on the first President Bush and promoted by the Federalist Society and National Right to Life. The selection of Souter resulted in 30 million additional abortions, and he even timed his resignation so that Obama would fill his vacancy with another pro-abort who will hold power for another 30 years.
This time around, no grassroots voters are going to be fooled. If this should happen, a campaign will begin for Trump's advisers to withdraw their mistake, as the second President Bush had to withdraw the name of Harriet Miers. This coalition letter, circulated by Phyllis Schlafly's Eagles, was signed by about 100 pro-life groups who will swing into action should Trump be fooled or pressured into nominating a justice without a strong pro-life record.
All four candidates being pushed by the inside-the-Beltway groups are "David Souters" or worse: Gorsuch and Kethledge are obviously pro-choice, while Pryor and Hardiman have said nothing pro-life for decades on the bench. Pryor made a pro-life statement a long, long time ago, but has pandered to the social Left ever since.
Pro-life grassroots groups and pro-lifers all across this nation will not sit by quietly if Trump is misled by the D.C. lobbying insiders to break his pledge, nor will grassroots pro-lifers be fooled by another David Souter-type deceitful pick demanded by D.C lobbyists.
The lobbyists are using every trick they can imagine to pull off another David Souter nomination. Robert Bork was a heavy smoker at age 60, but he wasn't too old to be nominated. Ruth Bader Ginsburg was also over 60 when nominated for the Supreme Court. In an attempt to push Trump away from the clear pro-life winner, Florida Supreme Court Justice Charles Canady, who has a strong pro-life record as a judge at age 62, Inside-the-Beltway groups are falsely pretending that he's somehow too old. Trump is 70, but we definitely don't want a young David Souter who will be there 30-40 years!
The Heritage Foundation wrongly kept pro-life women off its list of candidates for Trump to consider for the Supreme Court. Trump's advisers should correct this omission by having Trump interview these two outstanding pro-life appellate judges: Jennifer Elrod and Edith Jones.
It's long overdue for a pro-life woman to be nominated. Trump's central pledge was to nominate a pro-life Justice, not confine himself to a lobbyists' list that discriminated against pro-life women judges. It's wrong for advisers to coach Trump to say that he is confined to a list approved by lobbyists. It's also degrading.
Trump should pick the best available candidate who fulfills his pro-life pledge. As such, Trump's advisers should recommend that Trump shares this message with the public. See here an analysis of the candidates.
A word to the wise, as Andy Schlafly, Esq., related at the Gathering of Eagles January 26 – 28, 2017, which I attended, "Over the years, many politicians signed my mother Phyllis's pro-life pledge, and then some were persuaded by their advisers or lobbyists to break it. I don't think those who broke my mother's pro-life pledge ever won another election."
In addition to giving feedback to Trump, it would be helpful to contact immediately the Senate Judiciary Committee. Texas U.S. Senator Ted Cruz, for example, could block pro-choice candidates by speaking out against them.
