by Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Writer
After spending his entire career defending the likes of Playboy and Penthouse, fighting child pornography laws and working for unlimited access to abortion, when it came time to face tough questions before the Senate Judiciary Committee, the President’s pick for Deputy Attorney General, David Ogden, suddenly became a changed man.
Ogden reversed course on many of his controversial positions when pressed by Senators during his Feb. 6 confirmation hearing and urged the committee not to judge him by arguments he made on behalf of his past clients, some of which he said were due to “immaturity.”
Not everyone is buying it.
Brian Burch, President of the pro-family advocacy group, Fidelis, described Ogden’s performance before the Senate Judiciary Committee as “a textbook example of an ambitious nominee saying whatever he needs to say to get the votes for confirmation.”
For instance, despite a long career of arguing against child pornography laws and internet filters, Ogden said he now believes these laws are constitutional and extremely important. During the hearing, Ogden claimed, “Child pornography is abhorrent,” and added later: “Issues of children and families have always been of great importance to me.”
When asked about pro-pornography memos he wrote for his former boss, Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun, Ogden said that he regretted the memos and maintained that his vigorous opposition to the Moral Majority and the regulation of pornography was due to “immaturity.”
He also claimed that he couldn’t remember whether previous arguments against pornography regulation were made on behalf of paying clients, or whether he made them when working “for the public good.”
When questioned by the Committee, he also disagreed with his own previous arguments in favor of importing international law in American cases, saying he now believes foreign law deserves little weight.
He also reversed himself on previous statements he made about activist judges saying he believed they should allow compassion to affect their impartiality. During the confirmation hearing, he said he now believes constitutional principles are fixed and that the law should be the ultimate factor in a judge’s decision-making process.
“Ogden spent his entire life arguing for far left extremist positions,” Burch said. “And he expects us to believe he has matured and abandoned those views now that he is before the Senate? What we have here is a nominee who knows that his views and Obama’s views on the law are far out of the mainstream in America, so he is adjusting his rhetoric to get the votes he needs.”
The Judiciary Committee is expected to vote on the Ogden nomination on Thursday and the full Senate sometime early next week.
“His nomination should signal to voters that this is just the beginning of Obama’s campaign to undermine families through the courts,” said a statement by the Family Research Council. “Now is the time to draw the line on extremism. Call your senators today at (202) 224-3121 and tell them you oppose Ogden’s nomination.”
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