I think the death of Bobby Kennedy was a huge turning point in American society. Before that, Ronald Reagan in California and Nelson Rockefeller in NY — both Republican governors led the move to liberalize abortion laws. At that time, liberals such as Ceasar Chavez, RFK and Jesse Jackson were vocal opponents of this move to increase abortion.
Yes, Bobby Kennedy (who with wife Ethel) was strongly pro-life and someone who could reach out to the least in America without it being a purely political act. The attorney he named to the Supreme Court as JFKs Atty General, Byron White, was one of two dissenters in Roe v. Wade. Had RFK been president, he most likely would’ve named Henry J. Friendly to the SCt. In 1970, Judge Friendly drafted an opinion in a case that upheld restrictions on abortion.*
Indeed, it is not impossible that RFK could have given us a Chief Justice Friendly (instead of Warren Burger), the first female justice, Mary Ann Glendon (instead of Harry Blackmun), and a pro-life Hispanic judge (someone with like a Cesar Chavez instead of a Lewis Powell) and the Court could have given us an opinion grounded in law and logic instead of that, well, abortion we got and the issue would have gone back to the state legislatures and governors instead of creating an imperial judiciary.
And that’s just one thing. Imagine how much more would’ve been different if he had lived and been elected President.
Like film of his brother JFK, it hurts to watch…..
I think the death of Bobby Kennedy was a huge turning point in American society. Before that, Ronald Reagan in California and Nelson Rockefeller in NY — both Republican governors led the move to liberalize abortion laws. At that time, liberals such as Ceasar Chavez, RFK and Jesse Jackson were vocal opponents of this move to increase abortion.
Yes, Bobby Kennedy (who with wife Ethel) was strongly pro-life and someone who could reach out to the least in America without it being a purely political act. The attorney he named to the Supreme Court as JFKs Atty General, Byron White, was one of two dissenters in Roe v. Wade. Had RFK been president, he most likely would’ve named Henry J. Friendly to the SCt. In 1970, Judge Friendly drafted an opinion in a case that upheld restrictions on abortion.*
Indeed, it is not impossible that RFK could have given us a Chief Justice Friendly (instead of Warren Burger), the first female justice, Mary Ann Glendon (instead of Harry Blackmun), and a pro-life Hispanic judge (someone with like a Cesar Chavez instead of a Lewis Powell) and the Court could have given us an opinion grounded in law and logic instead of that, well, abortion we got and the issue would have gone back to the state legislatures and governors instead of creating an imperial judiciary.
And that’s just one thing. Imagine how much more would’ve been different if he had lived and been elected President.
*The speech disclosing this may be found here:
http://www.fed-soc.org/pdf/randolphBKO.pdf
A summary of the draft opinion may be found here:
http://tinyurl.com/6ng3wk