Guest blog post by Charmaine Yoest
Yesterday morning’s start to the Sotomayor hearings featured multiple references to the life issue, underscoring what we expected — that life would be a hot-button issue with this nominee.
The above-the-fold “news” on life coming out of the morning, however, was the interruption of the proceedings twice from pro-life protesters. While I think it’s important to observe the decorum of a formal hearing and give due respect to the Senate, the protesters’ passion does underscore what we have been saying in our meetings with senators: The grassroots are paying attention to these hearings. They want to see careful, rigorous questioning of this nominee. Most importantly, as I told Politico, we are all “looking for heroes” — people who are willing to stand on principle, uncowed by challenging political circumstances.
Charmaine Yoest is the President of Americans United for Life.