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November 12, 2004/Cheshvan 28 5765, Vol. 57, No. 11
A test by any other name
Editorial
"Senator Arlen Specter does not deserve to serve as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. The chairman of this committee must be a Bush loyalist who opposes judicial tyranny - not someone who is well-liked by the Christian and Bush haters Ickes, Soros, and Dershowitz."
- Rev. Louis P. Jordan, chairman,
Traditional Values Coalition
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What is it with this "litmus test" thing?
Doesn't it seem peculiar that a neutral scientific phrase like "litmus test" has become a tool intended to strike fear in the hearts of the faithful? Is it coincidence that the term is in fact lifted from the world of science rather than the world of faith? (This is not to imply that science and faith are mutually exclusive , only that some people, including those who plaster textbooks with stickers that call evolution just a theory, see them as such.)
During the presidential campaign debate in Tempe on Oct. 13, President George W. Bush accused Sen. John Kerry of wanting to impose a "litmus test" on Supreme Court nominees because Kerry said that he didn't intend to appoint judges who wanted to undo the Constitution, specifically Roe v. Wade. Bush said that he himself would refuse to use any kind of litmus test for Supreme Court nominees.
Now a group that calls itself the Traditional Values Coalition has sent out a press release that trumpets, "Specter litmus test bars Catholics and evangelicals from court appointments." There's that frightening phrase again. The release declares that veteran Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., should not be allowed to chair the Senate Judiciary Committee because he is "refusing to serve the pro-life president and citizens who elected him."
How, exactly, is he refusing to serve?
Apparently Specter told an Associated Press reporter that it was "unlikely" the committee would consider any nominee to the U.S. Supreme Court who favored overturning the 1973 landmark Roe v. Wade decision affirming a woman's right to choose. Specter has been backpedaling since, but the damage may already be done - especially now that the Traditional Values Coalition has rolled out the damning "L" word and aimed it at the senator.
It is abundantly clear, although Bush wouldn't actually come out and say so, that he and those in the evangelical movement have their own litmus test for the people in whom they put their trust, including nominees to the U.S. Supreme Court. That litmus test is faith - their way, on their terms.
They just don't call it a test. That would be too scientific.
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