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April 19, 2007

This Is A "Legislative Leader"?

Jonathan Adler at the Volokh Conspiracy has an excellent post up this morning about Sen Harry Reid's comments on SCOTUS' ruling on the Partial Birth Abortion Bill

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) was among those who denounced yesterday's Supreme Court ruling upholding the Federal Partial Birth Abortion Act. Commenting on the decision, 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 bill in 2003. Reid also voted in favor of a ban on partial-birth abortion in 1999 (see here) and , as indicated in this "Meet the Press" interview, Reid was one of only two Democratic Senators to vote against a resolution reaffirming Senate support for the holding of Roe v. Wade.

So, despite his repeated support of legislative restrictions on abortion, Reid's latest comment suggests that he believes the Supreme Court's decision was regrettable and wrongly decided, and that a law that he supported is unconstitutional. To me, the latter is of greater concern. Call me old fashioned, but I believe that if a member of the Senate believes a law is unconstitutional, he or she should vote against it.

Exactly right. But sadly this is indicative of the state of Congress these days, wherein the Legislators have no set beliefs but in fact are constantly engaged in swimming to the latest poll data and positioning themselves with an eye towards future elections. There is seemingly no moral fiber, no vision; just political pandering.

Look at all the gyrations and contortions that these Senators are doing over their war votes. "Oh I was lied to". "If I knew now what I knew then". "My dog ate the CIA briefing so I really didn't get a chance to look at it." "Who knew the war would be unpopular in 3 years?" These folks are so vacuous.

And it is both disgusting and frightening, for these are the people into whose hands we have placed our very lives.

Posted by Mr. Bingley at April 19, 2007 07:50 AM

Comments

Posted by: The_Real_JeffS at April 19, 2007 10:50 AM