U.S. District Judge for the District of Wyoming
> Facts About Richard H. Honaker
> Coalition letter 6/13/2007 expressing serious concerns about the nomination of
Richard Honaker
President Bush has nominated Richard Honaker to the U.S. District Court for the District of Wyoming. Throughout his career, Mr. Honaker has demonstrated hostility toward a woman's constitutional right to access reproductive health care. In addition, his legal philosophy, which elevates his own religious views over well established constitutional principles, calls into question his ability to fairly apply the law. As such, the National Abortion Federation (NAF) believes that confirmation of Honaker to this court would threaten the reproductive rights of women in Wyoming, and we urge Senators to reject this nominee.
During his tenure in the Wyoming House of Representatives, Honaker introduced two bills that would have created a near total-ban on abortion in the state. In 1991, Honaker introduced the Human Life Protection Act, which would have outlawed abortion with an exception only for the women's life, or in certain cases of rape or incest so long as the woman reported the attack within five days. This legislation also included a number of findings that were directly in conflict with established medical and legal doctrine, including that "[i]t is a medical and scientific fact that the life of each individual human being begins at the moment of conception" and that "[t]his state has a compelling interest in protecting the lives of unborn children throughout pregnancy." Honaker worked closely with Americans United for Life in drafting this legislation, which would have directly challenged the principles established in the United States Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade. The bill failed, and Honaker reintroduced a similar bill the following year, which again failed.
Unable to pursue his anti-choice agenda through the Wyoming legislature, Honaker then worked to place the abortion ban on the Wyoming state-wide ballot as an attorney for the Unseen Hands Prayer Circle Political Action Committee. When opponents of the measure tried to argue that the initiative could violate the United States Constitution, he represented Unseen Hands in an appeal to the Wyoming Supreme Court. Although the Court allowed the measure onto the 1994 ballot, voters overwhelmingly rejected the measure.
Honaker has repeatedly stated his view that legal abortion is the equivalent of murder, and has criticized Supreme Court decisions establishing the legal right to an abortion. Honaker's statements and writings on the role of religion in the law also raise concerns about whether he would follow established precedent if the resulting decision would be inconsistent with his personal beliefs. This consideration is especially significant because federal district courts represent the first, and often only, line of defense for the rights of women and families. Appellate courts ultimately hear only a fraction of cases brought in federal courts.
The nomination of Richard Honaker for a lifetime appointment to the federal bench jeopardizes the reproductive rights of women in Wyoming. Given his extensive history of anti-abortion activism and his extremist legal philosophy, Honaker is clearly an inappropriate judicial candidate for District Court for Wyoming. For the reasons stated above, NAF urges the Senate to reject his nomination.
If you have questions, please contact NAF's Public Policy Department at 202-667-5881.
|
