Indiana law professor Dawn Johnsen, Pres. Barack Obama’s nominee to head the Justice Department’s all-important Office of Legal Counsel, had her Senate confirmation hearing Wednesday. During questioning by Sen. Arlen Specter, the professor professed to be “shocked†by my contention that she had once analogized pregnancy to involuntary servitude, a violation of the Thirteenth Amendment’s prohibition of slavery. I made this contention in a profile of Johnsen for the current (March 9) issue of National Review, which was posted on NRO on Monday.
I think the shock is on the other foot, for two reasons. First, Johnsen did make this jaw-dropping argument to the Supreme Court. And second, in her hearing testimony, she nevertheless flatly denied making a Thirteenth Amendment argument: “This is a brief that I filed arguing that the right to privacy protects, um, the right of women and their families to make these choices and that Roe v. Wade should be upheld, which is in 1989. I made no Thirteenth Amendment argument.â€
From the internal link:
Any restriction that makes abortion less accessible is, in her view, tantamount to “involuntary servitude†because it “requires a woman to provide continuous physical service to the fetus in order to further the state’s asserted interest [in the life of the unborn].†In effect, a woman “is constantly aware for nine months that her body is not her own: the state has conscripted her body for its own ends.†Such “forced pregnancy,†she contends, violates the Thirteenth Amendment, which prohibits slavery.
The Court rejected this farcical theory, just as it has rejected other instantiations of Johnsen’s extremism. On abortion and other issues dear to the Left, she is nothing short of a zealot. She insisted that, without government-provided abortion counseling, a large number of women would be left without “proper information about contraception.†This, she claimed, would mean they “cannot be said to have a meaningful opportunity to avoid pregnancy.†The usual rejoinder to such reasoning is that nobody is forcing these women to have sex. Johnsen sees it differently, writing that these “losers in the contraceptive lottery no more ‘consent’ to pregnancy than pedestrians ‘consent’ to being struck by drunk drivers.â€
(h/t TigerHawk)
Comment by Swen Swenson on 2/28 @ 3:22 pm #
Okay, so she’s an idiot. How much does she owe in back taxes?
Comment by Wm T Sherman on 2/28 @ 3:23 pm #
Makes flakey arguments. Caught in a lie. But does anybody on the Committee give a damn?
Comment by Dan Collins on 2/28 @ 3:26 pm #
I don’t know nothin’ ’bout conceivin’ no babies! Lawdy, here come a truck!
Comment by Log Cabin on 2/28 @ 3:28 pm #
Generally, a President is entitled to his choices…
unless they happen to be conservative.
Then all bets are off.
Comment by geoffb on 2/28 @ 3:28 pm #
Who are you going to believe, her, or those lying court documents. Shheeecchh, that’s a no-brainer on both the left and the right.
Comment by Spies, Brigands, and Pirates on 2/28 @ 3:32 pm #
“There I was, just going about my lawful occasions, when this, like, FETUS came out of, like, NOWHERE. Could happen to anybody, right?”
Comment by mcgruder on 2/28 @ 3:38 pm #
my question: was the fetus coerced into her uterus or did it just, you know, show up? Because intent is everything in these matters.
Comment by Rob Crawford on 2/28 @ 3:39 pm #
Happened just like that to a friend of mine in high school. Man, was HE surprised.
Comment by Swen Swenson on 2/28 @ 3:39 pm #
It’s the patriarchy. Brainwashes those poor girls doncha see?
Comment by pdbuttons on 2/28 @ 3:42 pm #
lawdy- an ice scream truck!
you scream/ i scream
‘and lil’ babie aborted fetus-us all scream
for vanilla
no chocalate
no…vanilla
wait…
Comment by Ella on 2/28 @ 3:43 pm #
Wow, substitute “pregnancy” with “unpaid internship” and so much of my early working life makes sense.
Comment by Swen Swenson on 2/28 @ 3:44 pm #
Come to think of it, the patriarchy didn’t do a very good job back when I was growing up. Peach brandy was more effective..
Comment by Swen Swenson on 2/28 @ 3:50 pm #
They fed you peach brandy until you agreed to an unpaid internship? Now why didn’t I think of that?
Comment by Spies, Brigands, and Pirates on 2/28 @ 3:50 pm #
We always wanted kids, but can’t have ‘em.
Thanks to Dawn, I now know that I can get the same effect by simply going down to the local bar area and walking down the middle of the street at 0200 on a Sunday morning.
Comment by happyfeet on 2/28 @ 3:59 pm #
Well, as long as she promises not to politicize the Justice Department I guess it’ll probably be okay, and it was sort of cute how Arlen was flirting with her. It’s not like the job is a big deal.
Comment by Sdferr on 2/28 @ 4:06 pm #
And now…………………a frontal nudity.
Comment by Swen Swenson on 2/28 @ 4:10 pm #
Incidentally, you left out the good bit:
Obviously, adult supervision in the Obama administration, and in Washington generally, is a bit lacking.
Comment by Swen Swenson on 2/28 @ 4:12 pm #
Link Sdferr? Don’t tease us like that!
Comment by Sdferr on 2/28 @ 4:15 pm #
Link.
Comment by Swen Swenson on 2/28 @ 4:28 pm #
Ah! It’s Monty Obama’s Flying Circus! That explains perhaps more than we needed to know. But it does have me pining for the fjords..
Comment by Techie on 2/28 @ 4:31 pm #
Maybe we could transfer her to the Ministry of Silly Walks.
Comment by Swen Swenson on 2/28 @ 4:36 pm #
And a big, sharp axe.
Comment by Darleen on 2/28 @ 4:38 pm #
Techie
She sounds more suited to the Argument Clinic
Comment by Celtic Dragon on 2/28 @ 4:57 pm #
Teh stooopud, it blinds me…
Comment by Rob Crawford on 2/28 @ 5:58 pm #
Ya know, I’ve seen lefties go all exasperated-like when confronted by terms like “free market of ideas”. One went so far as to whine that “everything is a market to you people”.
So is everything a fucking lottery to lefties? What does that say about their mindset? About their views on self-determination?
In this particular case, well, WTF? As a species, we’ve known for quite a long time what makes babies, so maybe it’s time for the lefties to catch up.
Comment by The Sanity Inspector on 2/28 @ 6:20 pm #
Techie
She sounds more suited to the Argument Clinic.
No, she doesn’t!
Comment by Jeffersonian on 2/28 @ 6:22 pm #
Mark my word: This is a conspiracy to make Marcotte look sane by comparison.
Comment by The Sanity Inspector on 2/28 @ 6:23 pm #
I just hope Obama can get a competent, honest team assembled quickly. We remember how the Dems fought Bush’s every appointee over the spring and summer of ‘01.
Comment by Stubbs on 2/28 @ 6:27 pm #
She has presented an extension and borrowing of the most widely published philosophical defense of abortion, that of Judith Jarvis Thompson. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judith_Jarvis_Thomson
Comment by N. O'Brain on 2/28 @ 8:00 pm #
This. Is. An. Ex. Parrot!
[always wanted to say that]
Comment by urthshu on 2/28 @ 8:39 pm #
>>So is everything a fucking lottery to lefties? What does that say about their mindset? About their views on self-determination?
I dunno, but I think it’d be a great essay topic.
Comment by The Left's Response to Everything on 2/28 @ 9:12 pm #
But … Bush !! Rush Limbaugh !!!
Comment by pdbuttons on 2/28 @ 9:38 pm #
are you denying my right to have a baby?
if i wanted one
or eight
or fourteen
quick/ baby shower my ass
Comment by Techie on 3/1 @ 9:11 am #
Quoting a liberal accurately = vicious slander.
Get with the program, people
Comment by Mikey NTH on 3/1 @ 2:28 pm #
Another note to lawyers – do not make stupid arguments that may come back to haunt you. You may not believe that argument, but if it is stupid like this one, then people are going to infer that you actually believe it.
And an argument before the USSC? No one is going to buy the ‘I was young and dumb’ excuse.