Moscow Mitch McConnell just shoved another lifetime appointee into the federal judiciary, this time onto the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri, whom the American Bar Association declared unqualified, and who is such an anti-abortion extremist that she vehemently opposes even surrogacy and in vitro fertilization. Sarah Pitlyk got the votes of every Republican but one, Sen. Susan Collins, on Wednesday, in a 49-44 vote. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a pro-choice Republican, was conveniently absent from the Senate on Wednesday, thus not having to make a difficult voting decision.
Pitlyk was unanimously rated "Not Qualified" by the American Bar Association's vetting committee. The members determined that she "does not have the requisite trial or litigation experience or its equivalent," and noted that they were not considering her "temperament or integrity" in assigning the rating. They point out that her "experience to date has a very substantial gap, namely the absence of any trial or even real litigation experience." She "has never tried a case as lead or co-counsel, whether civil or criminal. She has never examined a witness." While Pitlyk had argued one case in a court of appeals, they point out, "she has not taken a deposition" and has never "argued any motion in a state or federal trial court," or "picked a jury," or "participated at any stage of a criminal matter."
That's just the experience side of things. The ideological side of things is even worse. She's a zealot for so-called religious rights, and of course a Federalist Society member. She is so anti-abortion that she's opposed to assisted reproductive technologies such as in vitro fertilization. She is also opposed to surrogacy. She has argued that "the practice of surrogacy has grave effects on society, such as diminished respect for motherhood and the unique mother-child bond." She's said that surrogacy "is harmful to mothers and children" and is a "practice society should not be enforcing." She embraces the unscientific, nonmedical, and authoritarian belief that an embryo is a person and should have more rights than the woman carrying it.
Vanita Gupta, a former head of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, calls Pitlyk’s confirmation "deeply disturbing. […] She is exactly the type of judicial nominee that Trump promised to fill the courts with: an individual who threatens reproductive rights and access to abortion." Pitlyk will be on the panel deciding abortion rights cases in progress in Missouri. And the one measure of experience Pitlyk has on her resume, by the way, is having clerked for Brett Kavanaugh. The two of them are now in a position to end reproductive rights in the United States.
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