BenchMark: NCJWs Campaign to Save Roe

November 18, 2002, Washington, DC – The National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW) expressed its deepest disappointment in Senate action confirming Professor Michael McConnell to US Circuit Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit. NCJW's National President Marsha Atkind released the following statement:

"NCJW is deeply disappointed that Michael W. McConnell has been elevated by the Senate to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals. Professor McConnell is a committed foe of Roe v.Wade and favors weakening the separation between religion and state. His entire career has been one of intellectual hostility to prevailing interpretations of our civil and constitutional rights, including the right to privacy. The merits of his appointment were not sufficiently debated in the Senate Judiciary Committee or on the Senate floor. We decry the fact that the Senate, without a recorded vote, would act on this important lifetime appointment to the federal appellate bench, without debating the nominee's extreme right-wing judicial philosophy. This action does a disservice to the American people who count on the Senate to take seriously their obligation to advise and consent on these critical lifetime appointments."

NCJW is a volunteer organization, inspired by Jewish values, that works to improve the quality of life for women, children and families and to ensure individual rights and freedoms through research, education, advocacy, and community service programs initiated by its network of 90,000 volunteers, supporters and members nationwide. It has launched BenchMark: NCJW's Campaign to Save Roe, a national effort to educate and mobilize NCJW members, the Jewish community, and friends and allies everywhere to promote a federal bench with judges that support fundamental freedoms, including a woman's right to choose.