NCJW Opposes Confirmation of Richard Honaker to US District Court

February 12, 2008, Washington, DC -- The National Council of Jewish Women (NCJW) has announced its opposition to the confirmation of Richard Honaker to the US District Court of Wyoming. NCJW President Phyllis Snyder released the following statement:

"We are deeply troubled by Richard Honaker's record of hostility to reproductive rights and his assertion of the primacy of Christianity, as he interprets it, as the correct basis for interpreting the law and making public policy in the United States.

"In 1991 and 1992, Richard Honaker twice introduced the so-called 'Human Life Protection Act' in the Wyoming legislature, a bill that would have gutted the right to choose for women of that state. When the bill failed, he served as counsel to the Unseen Hands Prayer Circle, an anti-choice political action committee formed to put the "Human Life Protection Act" on the ballot as a statewide initiative in 1994.

"Mr. Honaker rejects the separation of religion and states, asserting that 'The American mind...accepted the principles of the Bible and Christianity as truth -- as absolute truth for American society,' and that 'I came to know that if the Bible is true, if Christianity is true, then it is true in...law, and it is true in all facets of human endeavor.'

"He has criticized the Supreme Court, writing that 'Autonomy is the new secular religion sanctioned by [t]he United States Supreme Court. The Supreme Court no longer talks about America as a Christian nation or about the Christian underpinnings of the law.'"

Snyder called on members of the Senate Judiciary Committee to reject Richard Honaker's nomination.

NCJW is a volunteer organization, inspired by Jewish values, that works to improve the quality of life for women, children, and families and to ensure individual rights and freedoms for all through its network of 90,000 members, supporters, and volunteers nationwide. It has launched BenchMark: NCJW's Campaign to Save Roe, a national effort to educate and mobilize NCJW members, the Jewish community, and friends and allies everywhere to promote a federal bench with judges that support fundamental freedoms, including a woman's right to choose.

Contact:
Emily Alfano
202 296 2588 x5; emily@ncjwdc.org