Dick Durbin Asks Judge Nom Point Blank: Should A Minor Sex Assault Victim Be Forced To Give Birth?

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During a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing last week, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) asked one of President Trump's judicial nominees about abortion laws.

Transcript

00:00I'm way over my time. Thank you, Madam Chair.

00:02Thank you, Senator Kennedy.

00:03Senator Durbin, ranking member.

00:05It's been a long time since I took a bar exam,

00:09and I remember getting the envelope and said with good news that I had been accepted,

00:16and I breathed a sigh of relief to think I'd never have to face another test.

00:20Well, you've just gone through the Senator Kennedy bar exam.

00:24It's been a tough one for a lot of nominees,

00:27and lucky for us, he doesn't ask his colleagues these questions, only the nominees.

00:32So I wish you well, and I acknowledge you asked some tough questions, Senator.

00:40Judge Pratt, just a few weeks ago, you...

00:43It's only a position for life, Mr. Chairman.

00:45Understood.

00:47Judge Pratt, a few weeks ago, you wrote an opinion in which you held that a Florida law

00:51allowing minors seeking abortions without parental consent,

00:54but with judicial waiver was unconstitutional.

00:59The case involved an appeal from the trial court's denial of a 17-year-old's application

01:03to obtain a judicial waiver of the parental notification and consent requirements for an abortion.

01:10Under Florida law, judicial waivers in this context have been permitted.

01:14However, your decision held that Florida's judicial waiver procedures were unconstitutional

01:19and violated the parent's due process right.

01:23This wasn't something you wrote in an op-ed piece, nor was it a case you argued sellously on behalf of a client.

01:30This was last month, and you wrote this opinion as a state court judge.

01:35In commenting on your opinion, one lawyer said,

01:37judicial override doesn't even begin to describe what this judge did.

01:41There are also serious concerns with your decision's potential impact on victims of incest abuse.

01:47So, should a minor who is sexually assaulted in your state be forced to give birth

01:52if her parents do not consent to her having an abortion?

01:57Senator, my opinion on behalf of our court expressly made clear that that was not a situation that was presented in the case.

02:08The case concerned a waiver request on the basis that the minor asserted that it would be in her best interest

02:14not to include her parents, not to allow her parents to be notified of her contemplated procedure.

02:21And as the opinion, you know, explains, I mean, I think I don't want to go behind the face of the opinion,

02:27but I'm happy to explain the opinion.

02:29The opinion holds that the parents have, at a minimum, a due process right to notice an opportunity to be heard,

02:36and this is presumptively fit parents, have a right to notice an opportunity to be heard

02:41if the state seeks to abridge or to remove their right to be involved in the medical decisions of their children.

02:52So, that is the basis of the opinion.

02:54I think if you went further than that, as I understand it,

02:56your decision held that Florida's judicial waiver procedures were unconstitutional

03:00and violated the parents' due process rights.

03:04Unconstitutional under the status, I don't know the Florida Constitution, obviously,

03:08but your argument was that it was unconstitutional under state constitution or federal?

03:15So, Senator, it wasn't my argument, but the reasoning of the opinion that I authored on behalf of the court

03:20is that the due process clause of the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution requires,

03:26as with any other circumstance when someone's substantial rights are at issue,

03:29notice an opportunity to be heard, essentially an opportunity to provide an explanation to the court

03:37why the court should or should not take the contemplated action,

03:41and there's a body of precedent that the opinion cites regarding the fundamental requisites

03:47of the due process clause being notice an opportunity to be heard.

03:50Different states have different laws, and certainly the judicial waiver is put in place

03:54so that when there's a question of parental consent,

03:57there's an option for the victim to petition the court for permission to apply the waiver.

04:04And as I understand it, you found that petition to apply the waiver unconstitutional.

04:09That's the way I read this.

04:10Let me ask each of you, we've had a recurring question here about the impact of a court order.

04:16How seriously should a party to a conflict take a court order?

04:22Judge Artow?

04:24Very seriously.

04:26And do I have the right, if I'm in your court, or any court for that matter,

04:31and a decision is reached to say that I just don't agree with it, I don't have to live by it,

04:36or am I bound by that order until I've exhausted rights of appeal, for example?

04:42Well, Senator, you know, there are stays that can be pursued, of course.

04:49There's appeals that can be exhausted, that, you know, may be able to be exhausted.

04:53You may be able to post a bond to exhaust such things.

04:57You may be able to move for rehearing on it.

05:00There may be some exceptions, but for the most part, you know, court orders are court orders.

05:05Well, and I think you just heard, you sat through several hours of questioning on a potential nominee for the circuit court

05:14as to whether or not he was following the court order, oral or written, I'm not sure,

05:20when it came to launching a plane with detainees in it to another country.

05:25So this is a serious question which is going to recur frequently here, I'm afraid, under this administration.

05:32I yield this point.

05:33Thank you, Ranking Member.

05:37Senator Whitehouse, do you want to go ahead and go?

05:39Sure.

05:39Thanks, Chairman.

05:41If you don't mind, could I start my questioning in just a moment

05:45and make a point of order or an observation?

05:49Yes, I think that I willimpression.

05:50This I think that I am Besh blurring this question.

05:51Do you know about his reaction, if you don't mind, could I start my questioning?

05:53That is an observation, is the information on a connection,

05:56businessman.

05:56And I'm going to ask Dr. J tensions, unfortunately how is it noise?

05:58That we should be paying attention, sir?

05:58I'm going to ask Dr. J�� an question.

05:59Whether I am your show or my provost or a paper comment,

06:01how do you want to say yes sir?

06:02That applies to Dr. J signature situation.

06:02Good question?

06:03Yes, I thank you.

06:03Those men with my kids and I think I will be preparingEN to say

06:03that if that happens

06:04after this administration is trying to face a Suk-ford hat,

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