Judge Issues Abortion Law Injunction

FNC ^ | Wednesday, November 05, 2003

[GeekDejure]

U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf needs to be aborted !!!

.

[farmfriend]

Hahaha, smart ass! I was thinking more in the lines of she gets more sleep myself.

[tioga]

-you are right, it doesn't help....

--this is going to get very, very ugly....

[kidd]

That was quick.

Does Judge Kopf have a drive-thru window for judicial activism?

[Tai_Chung]

Meanwhile in a dispute over the religious codes in Nebraska, the Plattsmouth City Council voted unanimously on March 4 to appeal a federal judge's ruling that a Ten Commandments monument must be removed from display in a city park.

"Basically, the will that we've got from the citizens of Plattsmouth is that this is something they want to stay there," said City Administrator John Winkler. "We haven't had one dissenting opinion, outside of the person who filed the lawsuit."

The lawsuit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of a Plattsmouth atheist. It alleged that the monument fails to maintain a proper separation between church and state.

The monument lists the Ten Commandments and also is emblazoned with two Stars of David, which are symbols of the Jewish faith.

U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf of Lincoln on Feb. 19 rejected Plattsmouth's argument that the monument, which has been around for 36 years, hasn't hurt anyone and should be protected by the First Amendment's guarantee of religious freedom.

"The city has not presented any evidence that negates the overwhelming religious nature of the monument," Kopf said. "It conveys a message that Christianity and Judaism are favored religions."

http://www.freedomforum.org/templates/document.asp?documentID=15834

[Spiff]

U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf Dick Head needs to be aborted !!!

[wardaddy]

Got rope?

[AD from SpringBay]

So why can't a judge issue a Roe v. Wade injunction? I'm sure there's a health concern about abortion somewhere.

[Steve0113]

bump

[mrsmith]

Says he's got a bad Kopf
Wants to get it paid off
...
You don't need a weather man
To know which way the wind blows

[Kaslin]

I see, he is the same left-wing judge

[Tai_Chung]

August 14, 1997
LINCOLN, NEBRASKA - Today, Judge Richard Kopf of the U.S. District Court for the District of Nebraska issued a preliminary injunction against a new Nebraska law that bans certain abortions even when a woman's health is threatened or she determines that the procedure is best for her. Finding that the law outlaws the abortion method known in the medical community as "intact dilation and extraction," the court held that it would force physicians to use abortion techniques that could pose greater risks to the lives and health of particular women. Judge Kopf found that preventing physicians from performing abortions in the manner that they believe is most appropriate for their patients imposes an "undue burden" on women seeking to terminate their pregnancies before viability, in violation of U.S. Supreme Court precedent.

"Today's ruling rejects Nebraska's attempt to make it a crime for doctors to use their best medical judgment and provide the health care they believe is most appropriate for women seeking pre-viability abortions," said Simon Heller, the Center for Reproductive Rights' litigation director who is lead counsel in Carhart v. Stenberg. "The court rightly recognized that this abortion ban's effect is to interfere with the ability of women to make medical decisions that are protected by the Constitution."

One of Nebraska's few abortion providers, Dr. LeRoy Carhart, challenged the "partial-birth" abortion ban on June 12, three days after Governor Ben Nelson signed it into law. A temporary restraining order issued by Judge Kopf on June 13 barred state officials from continuing to enforce the law. In their legal papers and arguments presented during a two-day hearing before Judge Kopf, Dr. Carhart's attorneys from the Center for Reproductive Rights argue that the abortion ban violates a number of constitutional guarantees, including a woman's right to liberty, privacy, and bodily integrity and autonomy. Under the law, a physician would face felony charges that could result in up to twenty years in prison, a $25,000 fine, or both; a doctor found guilty of violating the law would also have his or her medical license automatically revoked.

Judge Kopf found that the plaintiffs were likely to succeed in proving that banning a method of abortion denies a woman the ability to choose to terminate a pregnancy prior to viability, a constitutional right reaffirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1992 in Planned Parenthood v. Casey. The court held that the law's extremely narrow exception - allowing the banned abortion only when a woman's life is "endangered by a physical disorder, physical illness, or physical injury" - fails to protect women's health.

The court did not rule on claims that the definition of a "partial-birth abortion" is so vague that it potentially bans several abortion methods. Health care providers assert that the statute not only applies to "intact dilation and extraction" (D&X) abortions, but may also outlaw commonly accepted methods of abortion after the first trimester: dilation and evacuation or D&E, the most frequently used procedure, and induction. The court noted that a "persuasive opinion" by federal district court in Michigan recently made a finding to this effect, but determined that it was not necessary to rule on this question until after holding a full trial in this case.

The vast majority of abortions performed in Nebraska, as in the rest of the United States, occur in the first trimester of pregnancy. A woman who obtains an abortion after the twelfth week may do so for a variety of reasons, including that she is suffering from a health problem, the fetus has been diagnosed with fatal or severe anomalies, she has been unable to obtain health services at an earlier date due to lack of financial resources, she is a victim of rape or incest, or she has other deeply personal or religious reasons. For any given patient, the determination of what is the most appropriate abortion procedure depends on a range of factors, including the woman's health, medical preferences, and prior surgical history; whether she wants to preserve her future fertility; and the stage of pregnancy.

Courts in a total of eight states - Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Nebraska, Ohio, and Rhode Island - have barred enforcement of bans on "partial-birth abortion" or other laws attempting to outlaw certain methods of abortion. In Michigan and Ohio, the federal courts have issued final rulings finding that these measures are unconstitutional. Eight additional states - Alabama, Georgia, Indiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Utah - are enforcing some form of a "partial-birth abortion" ban. and "dilation and extraction" abortions.

Meanwhile, the so-called "Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 1997" (H.R. 1122), which the Nebraska law mirrors, is pending in the U.S. Congress. The U.S. House of Representatives is expected to vote soon on whether to approve the measure as amended by the U.S. Senate and send it on to President Clinton, who vetoed nearly identical legislation last year.

The plaintiff in Carhart v. Stenberg is LeRoy Carhart, M.D., a physician who provides abortion services at a health care facility in Bellevue. He is represented by Simon Heller, Janet Crepps, and David Gans of the Center for Reproductive Rights along with Jerry Hug and Alan Stoler of the Omaha law firm of Alan Stoler.

http://www.crlp.org/pr_97_0814.html

[Lurking Libertarian]

This judge's judicial activist argument lacks any merit. He should be disbarred, tarred, and feathered.

This decision was entirely predictable and will probably be affirmed on appeal, at least at the Court of Appeals level. The U.S. Supreme Court struck down prior PBA bans as unconstitutional by a 5-4 vote, about two years ago. Lower courts are required to follow Supreme Court precedent. The U.S. Supreme Court might reverse this decision, but only if one of the 5 judges who voted in the majority last time decides that this law is significantly different from the prior one.

[RicocheT]

This is why the left maintains a head lock on judicial appointments. They don't need to win elections to get the laws they like.

[chimera]

"It seems to me the law is highly suspect, if not a per se violation of the Constitution," Kopf said.

Lousy, rotten, murder-abetting liar. His ruling, and the whole legally torturous, creaking, haphazard, illogical basis of the Roe v. Wade decision is what is unconstitutional.

The Fifth Amendment has words to the effect that:

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

So what due process of law is there for the victim of PBA, or any abortion procedure? There is no due process at the tips of the scissors that open the skull, or the suction tube that removes the infant's brains.

[geedee]

"Judge Kopf began his legal career as law clerk to the Honorable Donald R. Ross, United States Circuit Judge from 1972 to 1974. He was engaged in private law practice with the firm of Cook, Kopf & Doyle from 1974 to 1987. Judge Kopf was a United States Magistrate Judge from 1987 to 1992. Judge Kopf has been a United States District Judge since 1992 and Chief Judge since 1999."

Source

1992? Wouldn't this be Pee Wee Clinton's doing? Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Some say the Dim-Demmers have given up trying to control things legislatively and have decided to try and rule through an "activist" judicial scheme instead because the American people have decided to no longer feed at the liberal trough. Hmmmmmmmmmmm. Sounds like someone might be on to something here.

[Sloth]

1992? Wouldn't this be Pee Wee Clinton's doing? Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

George I.

[ckca]

There is never any legitimate medical or health reason to partially deliver a child and kill it seconds before complete birth. Never. NEVER. It is a specious argument - pure spin invented by evil people

Amen!

This partial birth method of abortion is used when the fetus is 26 weeks of age or older. At this stage of development, the toughness of the fetal tissue makes the D&E method difficult.

After dilating the cervix for two days, the abortionist uses ultrasound to locate the fetus' legs. One leg is pulled into the vagina with forceps, then the other leg and torso are delivered by hand.

I defy ANYONE to name circumstances in which the life or health of the mother is at stake whereby a risky 2 to 3 day procedure is safer than a simple stat C-section!!!

But a C-section, the procedure of choice, ends with a live baby. Thus the "necessity" of PBA.

pinging some pro-lifers.

[geedee]

Uh-oh. Darn it. I do so like conspiracy theories. LOL.

[SwankyC]

A federal judge blocked implementation of a federal ban on partial-birth abortion

NO brainer. I predicted you would be able to use a stop watch to time how long it took the commies to do that.