There’s a new myth that seems to be on the GOP talking-points list that deserves to be quickly dismissed.
“Ruth Bader Ginsburg was a general counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union, yet she was overwhelmingly confirmed” during the Clinton administration, Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said on ABC’s “This Week.” Ginsburg “wasn’t asked about her earlier writings on whether laws banning prostitution were unconstitutional,” he added.
First, Ginsburg was “overwhelmingly confirmed” because the Clinton White House, despite having a Dem majority in the Senate, turned to the Senate Judiciary Committee’s ranking Republican, Orrin Hatch, for advice on possibe nominees. Indeed, Hatch boasted in his autobiography that Clinton hadn’t even thought of Ginsburg and that it was Hatch who encouraged the president to nominate her. Should Bush follow this model, and turn to the Judiciary Committee’s ranking Dem, Pat Leahy, I’m sure Bush’s choice will be “overwhelmingly confirmed” as well.
Second, for Cornyn to argue that Ginsburg was not asked about her earlier writings on prostitution laws is complete nonsense. As Media Matters noted last night, Hatch questioned Ginsburg directly about her 1974 report on the constitutionality of laws banning prostitution. During the confirmation hearings, after some substantive exchanges, Hatch concluded that Ginsburg was “making an academic point” and was not “justifying prostitution.”
So, with the debate barely underway, Cornyn and others are already relying on falsehoods to try and shift the argument. For some reason, I have a hunch it won’t be the last time.