Amy Coney Barrett ducks the abortion question. Ruth Bader Ginsburg did not

Opinion: The very minimum we have a right to expect of a judge is that she honestly answer a question while under oath.

EJ Montini
Arizona Republic

It shouldn’t be too much for a Supreme Court nominee to answer a question honestly, particularly when the judge’s history and opinion is well known.

So why is Amy Coney Barrett ducking questions about abortion?

She has in the past signed two different advertisements against the Roe v. Wade decision protecting a woman’s right to an abortion. One of those ads called for “an end to the barbaric legacy of Roe v. Wade.”

So, just admit it.

The very minimum we have a right to expect of a judge is that she honestly answer a question while under oath.

When it came up at her Senate hearing, however, Barrett said abortion “is a contentious issue, which is I know one reason why it would be particularly comforting to you to have an answer, but I can’t express views or precommit to approach a case in any particular way,” adding, “If I express a view on a precedent one way or another, whether I say I love it or I hate it, were I to do that it signals to litigants that I might tilt one way or another in a pending case.”

Ginsburg was more forthcoming

Supreme Court nominee Judge Amy Coney Barrett on Oct. 12, 2020, in Washington, D.C.

She cited Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s belief that a judge should remain impartial and not express a predetermined opinion.

But Ginsburg only followed that rule if she HAD no predetermined opinion.

During her confirmation hearings in 1993, for example, Ginsburg was asked about Roe v. Wade and abortion.

She told senators, “It is essential to woman’s equality with man that she be the decisionmaker, that her choice be controlling. If you impose restraints that impede her choice, you are disadvantaging her because of her sex.”

Even more specifically, Ginsburg said, “The argument was it's her right to decide either way, her right to decide whether or not to bear a child … But you asked me about my thinking about equal protection versus individual autonomy, and my answer to you is it's both. This is something central to a woman's life, to her dignity. It's a decision that she must make for herself. And when Government controls that decision for her, she's being treated as less than a fully adult human responsible for her own choices."

Exactly. Be responsible for your choices.

Answer the question. 

Reach Montini at ed.montini@arizonarepublic.com.