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Thursday 16 March 2023

Judge weighing abortion pill is favorite of conservatives

Continued from Front millennia-old religious belief
that marriage and sexual
A former federal prosecu- relations are reserved to
tor and lawyer for the con- the union of one man and
servative First Liberty Insti- one woman.”
tute, the judge has ruled A year later, he signed a
against the Biden admin- letter that quoted another
istration on other issues, article as describing the
including immigration. He “belief that one is trapped
was among more than 230 in the body of the wrong
judges installed to the fed- sex” as a “fixed, irrational
eral bench under Trump as belief” that is “appropriate-
part of a movement by the ly described as a delusion.”
Republican president and Republican U.S. Sen. Susan
Senate conservatives to Collins of Maine was among
shift the American judiciary those who opposed Kacs-
to the right. maryk’s nomination, citing
Interest groups have long what she described as an
attempted to file lawsuits “alarming bias against the
before judges they see as rights of LGBTQ Americans
friendly to their points of and disregard for Supreme
view. But the number of Court precedents.”
conservative lawsuits filed Three members of the Women’s March group protest in support of access to abortion medication Kacsmaryk’s defenders say
outside the Federal Courthouse on Wednesday, March 15, 2023 in Amarillo, Texas.
in Kacsmaryk’s Amarillo Associated Press he has been unfairly ma-
courthouse — where he is ligned.
assigned all new cases as appropriate” for a judge to practice, an issue that the Kacsmaryk’s decisions Mike Davis, founder of the
the sole district court judge allow their religious beliefs Supreme Court didn’t ad- have been “consistent with Article III Project, a conser-
— has spawned accusa- to impact a matter of law. dress. what a lot of conservatives vative judicial advocacy
tions that right-wing plain- He pledged to “faithfully He has also ruled that al- were hoping for, and a lot group, said Kacsmaryk
tiffs are seeking him out be- apply all Supreme Court lowing minors to obtain of progressives were fearful has shown no evidence
cause they know he’s likely precedent.” free birth control without of,” said Daniel Bennett, an of bias on the bench. He
to side with them. “As a judicial nominee, I parental consent at feder- associate professor at John noted that Kacsmaryk was
“Why are all these cases don’t serve as as a legisla- ally funded clinics violated Brown University in Arkan- deemed “qualified,” by the
being brought in Amarillo if tor. I don’t serve as an ad- parental rights and Texas sas, who wrote a book on American Bar Association,
the litigants who are bring- vocate for counsel. I follow law. the conservative Christian which means he satisfied
ing them are so confident in the law as it is written, not In other cases, he has ruled legal movement. “This is what the group describes
the strength of their claims? as I would have written it,” that the Biden administra- not a judge who’s neces- as “very high standards with
It’s not because Amarillo is Kacsmaryk said at the time. tion wrongly interpreted sarily going to be riding the respect to integrity, profes-
convenient to get to,” said Before the abortion pill part of the Affordable Care fence.” sional competence and ju-
University of Texas law pro- case, Kacsmaryk was at Act as prohibiting health Kacsmaryk’s detractors dicial temperament.”
fessor Stephen Vladeck. “I the center of a legal fight care providers from dis- said his past writings and le- “These allegations that he’s
think it ought to alarm the over Trump’s “Remain in criminating against people gal work revealed extremist biased are completely un-
judges themselves, that liti- Mexico” policy, which re- because of their sexual ori- views and animus toward founded and they unfairly
gants are so transparently quired tens of thousands of entation or gender identity. gay and transgender peo- conflate his legal advo-
and shamelessly funneling migrants seeking asylum to And he sided with Texas ple. In articles before be- cacy with bigotry,” Davis
cases to their courtroom.” wait in Mexico for hearings in ruling against Biden ad- ing nominated, he wrote said. “These Democrat
If Kacsmaryk rules against in U.S. immigration court. ministration guidance that critically of the Supreme politicians are sending a
the drug, the Food and In 2021, he ordered that said employers can’t block Court’s Roe v. Wade deci- message to Christians and
Drug Administration — the policy be reinstated in workers from using a bath- sion that established a na- other people of faith that
which has approved using response to a lawsuit filed room consistent with their tionwide right to an abor- they are not allowed in the
mifepristone — is expected by the states of Texas and gender identity. tion and the Obergefell de- public square.”
to quickly appeal the rul- Missouri. The U.S. Supreme In another case — brought cision that legalized same- Before joining the bench,
ing. Clinics have said they Court overruled him and by states challenging a sex marriage nationally. Kacsmaryk worked as an
could carry on with using said that the Biden ad- Department of Labor rule In 2015, he slammed an ef- assistant U.S. attorney in
one other drug alone to ter- ministration could end the — the Justice Department fort to pass federal gender Texas and was involved
minate pregnancies if nec- policy, which it did last Au- wrote in a recent court fil- identity and sexual orien- in such cases as the pros-
essary but that approach is gust. But in December Kac- ing that “there is no ap- tation protections, writing ecution of Khalid Ali-M Al-
slightly less effective. smaryk ruled that the ad- parent reason—other than that doing so would “give dawsari, the former Texas
During his confirmation ministration failed to follow judge shopping” that ex- no quarter to Americans Tech University student
hearings, Kacsmaryk told federal rulemaking guide- plains why the lawsuit was who continue to believe from Saudi Arabia convict-
lawmakers it would be “in- lines when terminating the filed in Amarillo. and seek to exercise their ed in a failed bomb plot.q