CNN’s ‘Litmus Test’ Double Standard

Vice President Mike Pence mentioned the Supreme Court and abortion at Friday’s March for Life rally in Washington, and CNN commentators expressed amazement that the new administration had crossed a sacred line on litmus tests for the high court.

“That’s why next week, President Donald Trump will announce a Supreme Court nominee who will uphold the God-given liberties enshrined in our Constitution in the provision of the late and great Antonin Scalia,” Pence said.

“For a vice president to stand up and say life is winning again and then connect it to a Supreme Court nomination, again, another example of the remarkable change.”

CNN’s John King was aghast.

“For a vice president to stand up and say life is winning again and then connect it to a Supreme Court nomination, again, another example of the remarkable change,” he said.

Washington Post reporter Ed O’Keefe agreed, saying, “This stands even more significantly than other parts of what’s gone on this week.”

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New York Times reporter Jonathan Martin recalled the third presidential debate with Democrat Hillary Clinton.

“Trump has sort of washed away a lot of conventions and norms around politics,” he said. “And that third and final debate, when he was asked the question right from the get-go about the abortion issue, he said, he didn’t bother with this sort of word play around litmus tests. He said, ‘Of course I want pro-life justices.”

Left unsaid on the CNN panel is the fact that Clinton did the same thing. The former secretary of state promised that justices she appointed would not only vote to uphold Roe v. Wade but also would support LGBT rights and overturn the Citizens United decision that severely curbed restrictions on political speech.

“But I feel that at this point in our country’s history, it is important that we not reverse marriage equality, that we not reverse Roe v. Wade, that we stand up against Citizens United, we stand up for the rights of people in the workplace, that we stand up and basically say, ‘The Supreme Court should represent all of us,'” she said. “That’s how I see the court.”

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Clinton’s pronouncement should not have shocked anyone paying even cursory attention to the 2016 campaign. The days of candidates pretending that they are not seeking outcome-based results on the court are long over. Clinton repeatedly and explicitly promised to make abortion rights a prerequisite for judicial appointees.

“I do have a litmus test; I have a bunch of litmus tests, because the next president could get as many as three appointments,” she said at a Democratic candidate forum in February. “It’s one of the many reasons why we can’t turn the White House over to the Republicans again.”

Lest there be any confusion about what she meant, she added, “We have to preserve marriage equality. We have to go further to end discrimination against the LGBT community. We’ve got to make sure to preserve Roe V. Wade, not let it be nibbled away or repealed.”

On the campaign trail in Wisconsin in March ahead of that state’s primary, she repeated the pledge.

“I would not appoint someone who didn’t think Roe v. Wade is settled law,” she said.

But King viewed Pence’s comments as unprecedented.

“Normally, when a president has a Supreme Court pick, the official line at the White House is there are no litmus tests,” he said. “Of course, the president wouldn’t ask a nominee, would you, would he or she, you know, vote ‘yes’ or ‘no’ on the question of Roe v. Wade.”