Never Liberal Enough: Networks Also Doubted Ruth Bader Ginsburg's Pro-Abortion Credentials in '93
Thursday night, as my colleague Brent Baker noted,
ABC and NBC fretted that Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor might
not adhere to a strict liberal orthodoxy on abortion. NBC reporter Pete
Williams said Sotomayor's views on abortion were a "mystery," while
ABC's Jan Crawford Greenburg declared "both sides in the contentious
debate want to know more."
On Wednesday's CBS Evening News, correspondent Wyatt Andrews sounded the same alarm:
"Pro-abortion rights groups worried aloud today that the President -
who promised an abortion rights nominee - never asked Sotomayor, who is
Catholic, where she stands."
On Thursday's Today, co-host Matt Lauer opened the show by demanding
to know "Where does she stand? Liberal activists voicing concerns over
Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor and her stance on abortion. This
morning, they're demanding to know if she's pro-choice or pro-life -
and why President Obama never asked."
But this isn't the first time the networks have channeled the
worries of liberal pro-abortion groups about a Democratic President's
Supreme Court nominee.
Sixteen years ago, President Clinton picked the solidly liberal Ruth
Bader Ginsburg, an ardent feminist, to replace Justice Byron White.
Ginsburg is probably the most liberal justice on the Court, but the
networks conveyed doubts about whether she would really be a solid
liberal vote on abortion.
When Ginsburg was picked on June 14, 1993, she was touted as a
"moderate" even though she'd worked as a top ACLU official. Then-CBS
anchor Dan Rather told viewers of a live mid-afternoon special report
that: "Ginsburg is considered a moderate and a supporter of a woman's
right to an abortion. Now there'll be some argument about whether she's
considered a moderate or not. That's one of the fulcrum points at which
the debate about her nomination no doubt will turn, but she considers
herself a moderate, and supporters of her say that she is a moderate."
That night on the NBC Nightly News, anchor Tom Brokaw painted
Ginsburg this way:"President Clinton today announced his choice for the
U.S. Supreme Court: a sixty-year-old federal judge, a strong advocate
of women's rights who has become more moderate in her views over the
years, Ruth Bader Ginsburg."
Over on the CBS Evening News, correspondent Rita Braver would only
call Ginsburg "moderate to liberal," but she characterized Chief
Justice William Rehnquist as an "ultraconservative."
RITA BRAVER: Sixty-year-old Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg has been an appeals court judge for 13 years. She's considered moderate to liberal, but today she cited this guide to judging from ultraconservative Chief Justice William Rehnquist. RUTH BADER GINSBURG: "A judge is bound to decide each case fairly, in accord with the relevant facts and the applicable law, even when the decision is not," as he put it, "what the home crowd wants."
On the abortion issue, ABC anchor Peter Jennings relayed doubts just
a few minutes after Clinton announced his choice, telling viewers that
"in terms of the Roe v. Wade decision, the National Abortion Rights
Action League has weighed in fairly quickly, saying it has some
concerns but intends to listen to what Judge Ginsburg has to say."
The next morning on CBS's This Morning program, co-host Paula Zahn
hit a pro-Ginsburg guest from the left: "The National Abortion Rights
Action League is not totally comfortable with this nomination of Judge
Ginsburg. They do not feel that she supports Roe v. Wade fully. Are their fears justified?"
Over on NBC's Today, Katie Couric voiced similar fears to White
House Chief of Staff Mack McLarty: "So you don't think she has an open
mind in terms of interpreting Roe v. Wade, as some abortion rights activists are concerned about?"
And on the June 15 CBS Evening News, correspondent Susan Spencer
also saw "questions." Talking about President Clinton, Spencer relayed:
"On the Hill today, his choice of Ruth Bader Ginsburg for the Supreme
Court was getting good reviews. She made the rounds for what looks like
an easy confirmation. But her writings on abortion have raised some
questions."
The trumped-up fears of the pro-abortion groups were baseless
sixteen years ago, and may be just as baseless today. Responding to
Lauer's doubts about Sotomayor on Thursday's Today, NBC's Chuck Todd
was the only correspondent to suggest a cynical motive: "It looks like
this could be potentially just a straw man by abortion rights groups
who are concerned that they're not gonna be able to have a Supreme
Court nomination to raise money on."
Of course, network coverage that indulges left-wing worries about a
liberal President's Supreme Court choice means even less time for the
far more likely concerns of pro-life groups that Sotomayor will be a
reliable vote to perpetuate the liberal status quo of abortion on
demand.
