Election 2008 | Giuliani Says Abortion Should Not Be Litmus Test for Court Picks; Lobbying Records Detail Fred Thompson's Work for Abortion-Rights Group
[Jul 19, 2007]

Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who is running for the Republican presidential nomination, on Wednesday in Council Bluffs, Iowa, told reporters that he would not use a potential U.S. Supreme Court nominee's abortion-rights position as a "litmus test," Long Island Newsday reports (Gordon, Long Island Newsday, 7/18).

"Abortion is not a litmus test," Giuliani said, adding that Roe v. Wade, the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court case that effectively barred state abortion bans, also "is not a litmus test. No particular case is a litmus test. That's not the way to appoint Supreme Court justices or any judge." He also said that judicial candidates would not decide on future abortion cases ahead of time, adding, "Otherwise, why have legal arguments if you're not going to give judges a chance to change their mind" (Quaid, AP/Forbes, 7/18).

Giuliani in an interview on Fox News Sunday in May said his Supreme Court nominees would be "free to take a look" at the "limitations" of Roe , adding, "But I believe I should leave it to them to decide that." He also said he would not rule out choosing a judge known to be an opponent of abortion rights if he "thought that on 20 other issues" the judge "would be terrific" (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 5/15). Giuliani during a debate in May at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif., said that it "would be OK" if Roe were repealed, adding, "Or it would be OK also if a strict constructionist judge viewed it as a precedent, and I think a judge has to make that decision" (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 5/4).

Giuliani did not mention abortion in a speech Wednesday at Woodrow Wilson Junior High School, the Des Moines Register reports. However, he said he would appoint Supreme Court judges similar to Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, as well as Justices Samuel Alito, Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas (Roos, Des Moines Register, 7/19).

Documents Detail Fred Thompson Work for NFPRHA
Former Sen. Fred Thompson (Tenn.), who is expected to announce his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination, charged about $5,000 to the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association, which supports abortion rights, for nearly 20 hours of work in 1991 and 1992, according to records for the law firm Arent Fox, the New York Times reports. Thompson billed the group for 3.3 hours of lobbying "administration officials," as well as for 22 conversations with former NFPRHA President Judith DeSarno, according to billing records from Arent Fox, where Thompson worked part time from 1991 to 1994 (Becker, New York Times, 7/19).

DeSarno has said that in 1991, NFPRHA hired Thompson to urge the George H.W. Bush administration to withdraw or relax a federal policy on funding restrictions for clinics that provided abortion-related counseling. Minutes from a NFPRHA board meeting on Sept. 14, 1991, reportedly state that the group had "hired Fred Thompson Esq. as counsel to aid us in discussions with the administration" on the abortion-counseling policy.

Thompson spokesperson Mark Corallo on July 9 denied that Thompson worked for the group, but on July 12, Corallo said Thompson has "no recollection of doing any work" for NFPRHA. Thompson in a column posted July 11 on the blog Power Line said he does not remember but will not dispute evidence alleging that he lobbied for NFPRHA.

In the column, Thompson wrote that if a "client has a legal and ethical right to take a position, then you may appropriately represent him as long as he does not lie or otherwise conduct himself improperly while you are representing him." He added, "In almost 30 years of practicing law, I must have had hundreds of clients and thousands of conversations about legal matters. Like any good lawyer, I would always try to give my best, objective and professional opinion on any legal question presented to me" (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 7/16).

Corallo on Wednesday said that NFPRHA was an Arent Fox client and that the "firm consulted with Fred Thompson." Corallo added, "It is not unusual for a lawyer to give counsel at the request of colleagues, even when they personally disagree with the issue."