One of most notorious nominees of the Obama administration withdrew her bid for confirmation after languishing for more than a year without a Senate vote.
Last Friday Dawn Johnsen, a law professor at Indiana University, who had been nominated to head the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, announced her withdrawal from consideration. With the reality that the Republican members and several Democrat members fiercely opposed her nomination, the Obama administration and Johnsen apparently realized her ill-fated nomination was doomed.
Sadly, the rabid abortion apologist and anti-Catholic nominee was recently confirmed by the Senate Judiciary Committee including an affirmative vote from Rhode Island junior Senator Sheldon Whitehouse. Republican Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama who opposed her nomination as a member of the Judiciary Committee suggested that “her long history of extreme views and troubling activism relating to issues such as abortion…made her an unacceptable choice.” This history includes her infamous involvement in a legal attempt to strip the Catholic Church of its tax-exempt status because of the church’s defense of the unborn. Johnsen had also previously served as legal director of the National Abortion Rights Action League.
While we are happy that such a notorious and anti-life nominee will not be confirmed, we still remain perplexed why Senator Whitehouse would support such a radical anti-Catholic and pro-abortion extremist like Johnsen. His blind obedience to the anti-life ideology advocated by the extreme pro-abortion lobby and his apparent insensitivity concerning Johnsen’s radical, anti-Catholic history should cause all Rhode Islanders - especially Catholics - pause.
Johnsen’s militant support for abortion on demand and her clear anti-Catholic views are an affront to all Americans but Senator Whitehouse’s support of her nomination is a direct offense to his Catholic constituents. It is clear to most Americans and Rhode Islanders that her history of odious statements about the pro-life community, the Catholic Church and even motherhood made her an unfit nominee to serve our nation. However, what isn’t as clear is why the junior senator from Rhode Island displayed a serious lack of judgment in supporting her nomination. We believe he owes the Catholic community not only an explanation but an apology for this shameful moment in his short Senate career.
