Michael Boggs is facing opposition to his nomination to a U.S. district court over his record while in the Georgia State Assembly.Reuters/GaAppeals.us
An Obama judicial nominee is facing some fierce opposition from an unlikely source: more than two dozen liberal groups and two Democratic congressmen from his home state.
Michael Boggs, a judge for the Court of Appeals of Georgia and a former state representative, was nominated in January for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. A Senate Judiciary Committee hearing about his nomination is scheduled for Tuesday.
However, Boggs nomination is coming under fire over some of the bills he sponsored and voted for while serving in the Georgia General Assembly, mainly because his votes reflect more socially conservative views on abortion and gay rights, despite the fact he served as a Democrat.
Among the bills he co-sponsored was one in 2003 to establish a Choose Life adoption support program to encourage women to consider adoption over abortion. The bill would have established a Choose Life license plate to fund the program. Another bill Boggs co-sponsored that year would have tightened restrictions on minors seeking abortions.
These bills drew the ire of NARAL Pro-Choice America, which in a petition on its website calls Boggs dangerous for women and urges supporters to tell their senators to oppose his nomination.
We're disappointed that pro-choice President Obama nominated someone who doesn't share our pro-choice values, it reads. We agree with the president on a lot of things, but not this pick.
However, Kelsey Hazzard, the head of Secular Pro-Life, criticized NARAL Pro-Choice Americas's efforts in an article for pro-life website Life News, saying it is clear the pro-choice movement is attempting to maintain its grip on the Democratic party.
"NARAL is willing to spend a good deal of money to send a message to Obama: maintain your partys pro-abortion ideological purity, or suffer the consequences," she said.
Hazzard also criticized the head of the group, Ilyse Hogue for accusing Boggs of being "anti-American" because his voting record.
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Obama judicial nominee faces liberal ire over votes on abortion, gay marriage