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White House Adviser Rove Did Not Say How Miers Would Rule on Abortion Rights Cases, Conservative Leader Dobson Says, USA

James Dobson - founder of Focus on the Family and against abortion rights — said in a transcript of his syndicated radio show released on Tuesday that White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove did not tell him how Supreme Court justice nominee Harriet Miers might rule on abortion-related cases, the Los Angeles Times reports (Reynolds, Los Angeles Times, 10/12). Dobson last week on the show said that he had spoken with Rove about Miers’ nomination and the conversation persuaded him to support her. “When you know some of the things that I know, that I probably shouldn’t know, you will understand why I have said — with fear and trepidation — that I believe Harriet Miers will be a good justice,” Dobson said. Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) and ranking committee member Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) on Sunday agreed that an inquiry should take place on whether Dobson had received any private assurances on Miers’ judicial views from Rove. Miers, who currently serves as White House counsel, has never been a judge and therefore has no judicial record. In 1993, she was a leader of an unsuccessful attempt to persuade the American Bar Association to drop its stance supporting abortion rights and take a neutral position on the issue. In 1989, Miers donated $150 to the antiabortion group Texans United for Life, now called Texans for Life Coalition, according to TFLC President Kyleen Wright (Kaiser Daily Women’s Health Policy Report, 10/11).

Dobson Comments
Dobson in the radio broadcast scheduled to be aired on Wednesday said that Rove mentioned the ABA challenge and that Miers attended “a very conservative church, which is almost universally pro-life” (VandeHei, Washington Post, 10/12). However, Dobson said he “did not ask” about how Miers might rule on abortion rights cases, adding, “I would have loved to have known how Harriet Miers views Roe v. Wade. But even if Karl had known the answer to that — and I’m certain that he didn’t because the president himself said he didn’t know — Karl would not have told me that. That’s the most incendiary information that’s out there, and it was never part of our discussion” (Los Angeles Times, 10/12). Dobson said that Rove “in essence” told him that “Miers is a strict constructionist, which is why [President Bush] likes her” (Toor, Long Island Newsday, 10/12).

The complete audio of Dobson’s broadcast on Wednesday is available online in RealPlayer and online in Windows Media (Dobson, Focus on the Family radio broadcast, 10/12).

“Reprinted with permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . ?2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.