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After barely four weeks in office, President Barack Obama signs into law Tuesday a legislative achievement that eclipses entire terms of some contemporary presidents. The stimulus legislation has the real potential of creating more than 3 million jobs, most in the private sector and many rebuilding an aging public infrastructure. The new law assists those most in need of basic health care, job training, and in the near term, unemployment benefits and food. No one could blame Obama for being a bit chagrined at the GOP’s disengagement from all this, notwithstanding the president’s charm and offers of substantive compromise. Republican...

Guest Commentary By Joseph Meaney (Meaney is Director of International Coordination, Human Life International )FRONT ROYAL, Virginia September 30, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - It is now clear that the chief Catholic apologist for President Obama, Pepperdine Law Professor Doug Kmiec, ignoring the pastoral direction of many American bishops, has only increased his aggressive promotion of the most pro-abortion president in American history. For his successful efforts in confusing Catholics about the Obama administration’s stance on life issues, Professor Kmiec has been appointed to the prestigious post of US ambassador to Malta by the administration he helped to bring to power.The...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- In a new interview that is certain to upset pro-life Catholics, dissident Catholic professor Douglas Kmiec continues to claim that pro-abortion President Barack Obama takes a pro-life view. He says he was so excited talking about abortion with Obama during the campaign that he said Obama's views made him think his candidacy was "my catechism come to life."Kmiec, a former Pepperdine University law professor whose covering up Obama's pro-abortion views during the election drew a rebuke from Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput, receive a reward from Obama by being named as the ambassador to Malta.In an interview...

Valletta, Malta, Jul 8, 2009 / 12:14 am (CNA).- The editor of a Malta newspaper has commented on President Barack Obama’s choice of Prof. Doug Kmiec as ambassador to Malta, describing the appointment as “somewhat of a poisoned chalice” and noting the controversies concerning Kmiec and his campaign to elect Obama to the American presidency.Noel Grima, editor of the Malta Independent Online, said that though Kmiec was a Catholic and a pro-life person he has “fallen foul” of some Catholic leaders for his public stances on abortion and other pro-life issues.Noting Kmiec’s past as a law school dean, a law...

I was one of those who went “toe to toe” with my colleague during the last hotly contested Presidential campaign in the United States of America. For me, it was never about my being an enthusiastic supporter of the other major candidate - I was not. It was about the threshold foundational concern that reveals the very heart of Catholic Social Justice thought, the inviolable dignity of every human life. This is the key to the whole social justice teaching of the Catholic Church. I contended then and now that it must also be the door through which we proceed...

Washington, DC -- President Barack Obama has named Douglas Kmiec, the Pepperdine University law professor who has become a key impediment to pro-life Catholics as the ambassador to Malta. The move is sure to spark opposition in Catholic circles given Malta's strongly pro-life stance.

(CNSNews.com) – A prominent Catholic academic and supporter of President Barack Obama says that Roman Catholic Archbishops Raymond Burke and Charles Chaput and Bishop Joseph Naumann did not take a "Catholic approach" when they insisted that prominent pro-abortion Catholic politicians should not take communion.  He also said bishops and priests who deny communion to pro-abortion Catholic politicians are engaging in “intimidation.”   “Let me tell you that to be separated from the body of Christ even once is intimidation,” said Douglas Kmiec, professor of constitutional law at Pepperdine University in Malibu, Calif. Kmiec--a campaign advisor to Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama in 2008--was barred from communion by a...

May 29, 2009 Correcting the record: Abortions went down under President Bush, not up During last night's "discussion" between pro-life/pro-Obama Prof. Doug Kmiec and pro-life/anti-Obama Prof. Robert George, Kmiec repeated a false statement. Kmiec said the number of abortions went UP under President George W. Bush. On Fox News Sunday May 17 Fr. Richard McBrien, a pro-Obama Notre Dame theology professor, made the same erroneous claim in a debate with Fr. Frank Pavone of Priests for Life. My friend, Professor (and statistical analyzer) Michael New, wants to correct the record: The data do not bear this out. In fact the...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- During a debate on Thursday between pro-life Princeton University professor Robert George and pro-Obama apologist Douglas Kmiec, Kmiec continued the false notion that abortions increased during the tenure of pro-life President George W. Bush.During the debate, held at the National Press Club, Kmiec went further than those who suggested abortions rose under Bush. He also claimed that abortions rose under the first President Bush.However, as University of Alabama professor Michael New explains in a new op-ed on National Review Online, Kmiec's contention is inaccurate."Data from both the Center for Disease Control and the Alan Guttmacher Institute...

Two Catholic lawyers went head-to-head Thursday night on whether the Obama administration has any common ground with the pro-life movement and came down on opposing sides on the goals of the new president. In an invitation-only forum at the National Press Club attended by more than 200 people, Doug W. Kmiec, a professor of constitutional law at Pepperdine University law school, held fast to an assertion that the Obama administration is serious about reducing abortions.

I don’t agree with Douglas Kmiec often, but this may be the exception … maybe. With all of the various legal and legislative challenges to the definition of marriage in states across the nation, Kmiec tells Catholic News Agency that government should restrict itself to enforcing contract law and leave the question of marriage to the churches. Robert George, a highly respected Constitutional scholar and fellow Catholic, vehemently disagrees (via The Corner): Doug Kmiec, a prominent Catholic who backed Barack Obama’s presidential bid, has endorsed replacing marriage with a neutral “civil license,” a proposal law professor Robert P. George called...

Professors Douglas Kmiec and Robert George Washington D.C., May 28, 2009 / 04:41 am (CNA).- Doug Kmiec, a prominent Catholic who backed Barack Obama’s presidential bid, has endorsed replacing marriage with a neutral “civil license,” a proposal law professor Robert P. George called a “terrible idea” that would make the government neglect a vital social institution. Speaking to CNSNews.com, Pepperdine University law professor Doug Kmiec said that although his solution to disputes over the definition of marriage might be “awkward,” it would “untie the state from this problem” by creating a new terminology that would apply to everyone, homosexual...

A masterful fisking of Doug Kmiec's inane defense of Obama at Notre Dame. by Fr. Z.

ROME | The Obama administration is having difficulty finding an ambassador to the Vatican, which has informally vetoed the appointment of Caroline Kennedy and other Roman Catholics who have supported President Obama, an Italian newspaper and Vatican specialists said Thursday. "A trial of strength between Barack Obama and the U.S. church that involves the Holy See is under way," the conservative Milan newspaper Il Giornale said Thursday in a report by Vatican correspondent Andrea Tornielli. "The tenant of the White House is very criticized indeed for his choices in favor of abortion and use of stem [cell] embryos, while the...

Here's the final installment of the E-mail debate between conservative Catholic legal scholars Robby George and Doug Kmiec over whether President Obama's executive order on embryonic stem cell research authorizes federally funded human cloning. In the first E-mail in this post, Kmiec responds to George's point-by-point analysis of Obama's new embryonic stem cell research policy, arguing that Obama's policy will very likely outlaw human cloning. In the second E-mail, George closes the debate by decrying Kmiec's definition of human cloning and invites him to debate the matter in public.

He garnered the majority of Catholic votes in the 2008 election, but a number of Catholic groups now say President Obama is showing a complete lack of regard for their beliefs. They count his decisions to lift restrictions on abortion and stem cell research among the most offensive. "As far as the Catholic church goes, there's no bigger priority for Catholics than human dignity and human life," said Cathy Ruse, senior fellow at the Family Research Council said. "And the Obama administration has just been an assault on those values again and again in just two months."

Conservative evangelical and Catholic leaders who went out on a political limb by aligning themselves with the Obama administration are expressing feelings ranging from disappointment to optimism in their reaction to the president's decisions so far on culture war issues. Although most of President Obama's moves on abortion and stem cell research have been expected, some right-leaning Christian leaders who took a risk sitting down at the table with a Democratic president feel that several major decisions fall short of the common ground Obama had promised on divisive social issues.

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Douglas Kmiec essentially voided his Catholic and pro-life credentials during the president election with his steadfast defense of Barack Obama despite his clear pro-abortion views. Now he's given pro-life advocates no reason to take him seriously by explaining away Obama's pro-abortion actions as president.Kmiec is more impressed by Obama's words claiming to want to reduce abortions than his deeds of promoting more abortions at every turn."I am especially pleased that the President deliberately highlighted at the national prayer breakfast the abortion reduction expectations he has for this Office," he told U.S. in an email on...

A group of 26 Catholic leaders, scholars and theologians Mar. 1 publicly expressed support for the nomination of Governor Sebelius as the next HHS secretary . They issued a statement calling attention to Sebelius’ successful efforts at reducing abortion in Kansas as well as the Catholic faith’s long standing support for universal health care. Sebelius Feb. 28th accepted President Obama's request to become his Health and Human Services secretary. “As faithful Catholics we proudly offer our support to Governor Kathleen Sebelius, who has been nominated to head the Department of Health and Human Services,” statement read. “Governor Sebelius is a...

The underhanded Obama administration has quietly moved to rescind the “conscience clause” found in agreements between the federal government and Catholic hospitals. This “conscience clause” has always protected practitioners from being forced to commit abortions in violation of their consciences. Its removal means Catholic hospitals will be forced to choose between federal funds for committing abortions and closing down to maintain a clear conscience. Phonies with egg on their faces Nevertheless, phony “Catholic” judas goats like Douglas Kmiec are still beating their chests with pride at having delivered 52% of the Catholic vote to the abortion team last fall. In...

When I found out Doug Kmiec had shot out an article for Time magazine in the wake of Pelosi's meeting with Pope Benedict, I geared myself up for yet another point-by-point critique of his flawed arguments. This time, however, I don't even need to take the trouble, because the entire premise of Kmiec's latest piece is factually in error. To see why, first I will summarize Kmiec's argument. Kmiec says: "If you read [the pope's statement to pelosi] carefully, the statement is actually quite radical — perhaps unintentionally so. The brief message — just two short paragraphs — draws...

Malibu, Jan 26, 2009 / 07:23 pm (CNA).- Pepperdine University law professor Doug Kmiec, a pro-life advocate of President Barack Obama’s election, has stated that he thinks he will be considered as a choice for U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See.Kmiec and his wife attended a private worship service with President Obama the morning of the presidential inauguration and also attended the Illinois inaugural ball that evening, Pepperdine’s student newspaper The Graphic reports."The President is nowhere close to determining such things because of the order of events … everyone's first order of business is economic recovery," Kmiec said, according to...

Prof. Douglas Kmiec, Mark Shea and Thomas Peters Denver, Jan 14, 2009 / 06:02 am (CNA).- Several leading Catholic bloggers have responded to Doug Kmiec’s criticism of “right-wing Catholic bloggers” whom he characterized as “online tormenters” who personally attacked him, distorted his position, and potentially poisoned the relationship between the Holy See and the incoming administration of President-elect Barack Obama. Kmiec, a law professor and a prominent pro-life Catholic supporter of the pro-abortion rights President-elect Obama, had written his essay “A Tangled Web: The Election & the Blogosphere” for Commonweal Magazine. In it, he assailed the “right-wing Catholic blogosphere”...

Washington, DC, Jan. 13, 2009 (CNA) -- In his first lengthy article explaining his position after the election of President Barack Obama, Pepperdine University Professor Douglas Kmiec is accusing “right wing Catholic bloggers" of distorting his position, attacking him personally, and potentially poisoning the relationship between the Holy See and the future administration of President Barack Obama.

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- To hear pro-life advocates tell it, attorney and Obama apologist Douglas Kmiec sold out his alleged pro-life, Catholic views for backing the man who could become the most pro-abortion president in history. In a new editorial in Commonweal, Kmiec strikes back at the pro-life people who blasted him. Kmiec claims the so-called "right-wing Catholic" bloggers were the ones leading the charge -- as if to say that they are out of touch with the pro-life views of the Catholic Church. Never mind that mainstream pro-life groups of every stripe called Kmiec on the carpet for underplaying...

Professor Douglas Kmiec Washington DC, Jan 13, 2009 / 11:53 am (CNA).- In his first lengthy article explaining his position after the election of President Barack Obama, Professor Douglas Kmiec is accusing “right wing Catholic bloggers" of distorting his position, attacking him personally, and potentially poisoning the relationship between the Holy See and the future administration of President Barack Obama.In the article entitled “A Tangled Web. The Election & the Blogosphere,” written for Commonweal magazine, Professor Kmiec explains that “as the author of a book whose title asked Can a Catholic Support Him? –and whose contents answered with an enthusiastic...

Russell Shaw warns that “Assorted Catholic voices have been raised lately calling on Catholics to give President-elect Obama a chance and look for common ground between him and the Church. Part of the message is: ‘Don’t worry about the Freedom of Choice Act...’”

Doug Kmiec’s Departure from the Pro-life Movement November 28th, 2008 by Steven Mosher and Colin Mason The more incredible the claim, the greater the number of column inches the liberal media devotes to making it. That’s why The Washington Post, on November 18th, gave over such a large swath of its front page to religion writer Jacqueline Salmon, who fantasizes at length about the “growing number of anti-abortion pastors, conservative academics and activists [who] are setting aside efforts to outlaw abortion and instead are focusing on building social programs and developing other assistance for pregnant women to reduce the number...

If 2008 is remembered as the year of the “bailout,” when the federal government spent billions to rescue the nation’s financial system, it should also be recalled for another kind of bailout—Christians with impeccably pro-life records who suddenly abandoned what they declared to be a sinking ship. Abortion seemed to be one of the few issues on which Senator Barack Obama had an unambiguous and unchangeable position during the campaign, as he promised that “the first thing I’d do as president is to sign the Freedom of Choice Act,” something that would nullify all existing laws restricting abortion. The most...

Ambassador to the Holy See is not like most ambassadorships. For starters, the First Amendment notwithstanding, it is the only position in the U.S. government that involves formal recognition of religion. Ambassadors are not accredited to the Vatican City-State, the 103 acres on the west bank of the Tiber that give territorial reality to papal independence. Ambassadors are accredited to the Holy See, that is, to the Pope in his capacity as leader of the Catholic Church. This was the grounds for opposition to the establishment of formal diplomatic relations from both conservative, evangelical Christians and from the ACLU, two...

A number of anti-abortion activists across the country have looked fully in the face of a Barack Obama presidency and foreseen that, with this ardently pro-choice president in place, chances that the Supreme Court will overturn Roe v. Wade in the next four years will be nil. They prudently have decided to put their energies toward making abortion a less-attractive choice by strengthening the social programs that would help more pregnant women choose life for the unborn. Other activists have said that this nod to practicality is selling out, that it undermines the progress the pro-life movement has made. No...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The Pepperdine law professor who calls himself a pro-life Catholic but was one of the leading apologists for perhaps the most pro-abortion presidential candidate in history is at it again. Douglas Kmiec is now saying Barack Obama is more Catholic than previous presidents who were pro-life. Kmiec's comments come in response to some from Cardinal J. Francis Stafford, head of the Apostolic Penitentiary of the Holy See, who called Obama on the carpet on abortion in a speech at the Catholic University of America last Thursday. In an address sponsored by the John Paul II Institute,...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- The Pepperdine law professor who calls himself a pro-life Catholic but was one of the leading apologists for perhaps the most pro-abortion presidential candidate in history is at it again. Douglas Kmiec is now saying Barack Obama is more Catholic than previous presidents who were pro-life. Kmiec's comments come in response to some from Cardinal J. Francis Stafford, head of the Apostolic Penitentiary of the Holy See, who called Obama on the carpet on abortion in a speech at the Catholic University of America last Thursday. In an address sponsored by the John Paul II Institute,...

Camarillo, CA, Nov 15, 2008 / 06:11 am (CNA).- Doug Kmiec, a pro-life Catholic who vocally supported President-elect Barack Obama’s presidential candidacy, defended his support for the pro-abortion rights politician in a lecture Tuesday at St. John’s Seminary in Camarillo, California. About 30 to 40 protesters against Kmiec’s speech stood in silence outside the seminary gates, an attendee who requested anonymity told CNA. Inside the seminary, nearly 300 people listened to Kmiec’s speech, the Thirteenth Annual Newman C. Eberhardt lecture. Father Eberhardt was a long-time history professor at the seminary. “Several of his students wished that he could be there...

More than 50 protesters with anti-abortion signs recited the rosary outside St. John's Seminary because inside a politically conservative Catholic was explaining why he voted for Barack Obama. The Democratic president-elect supports abortion rights. And though Douglas Kmiec, former constitutional law counsel for presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, is adamantly opposed to abortion, he not only voted for Obama but campaigned for him and wrote a book about his reasons.

Sacramento, Nov 6, 2008 / 07:47 am (CNA).- St. John’s Seminary in Camarillo, California has invited Pepperdine University law professor and Obama backer Doug Kmiec to give an election “post-mortem” lecture.According to the California Catholic Daily, Kmiec will give the Thirteenth Annual Newman C. Eberhardt Lecture next Tuesday. The seminary’s web site says his lecture will examine “the prominent role played by the American Catholic community in the 2008 election, from Bishops educating candidates on ensoulment to alternative ways to be pro-life to the selection of running mates.”Kmiec, former legal counsel for Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, has...

Denver, Nov 6, 2008 / 01:10 am (CNA).- In a genial but critical exchange reproduced on The Witherspoon Institute’s web site Public Discourse, Pepperdine University law professor Doug Kmiec and Archbishop of Denver Charles J. Chaput have exchanged further remarks concerning Kmiec’s advocacy for President-elect Barack Obama. The archbishop told the professor he welcomes a civil dialogue but also called on Kmiec to convince Obama to change his position on life issues. Kmiec, a pro-life Republican, wrote in response to the archbishop’s Oct. 17 address to an ENDOW dinner, titled “Little Murders,” in which the archbishop commented that Kmiec has...

Of course, as John Paul II taught in Veritatis Splendor, no democracy should set itself against the truth of the human person. When John McCain proclaimed himself to be “pro-life,” many thought we would hear from him a call for some effort to bring the Constitution in line with the protection of life. Ronald Reagan was a champion of this idea though he did not succeed in achieving it. The Reagan amendment would have included the unborn in the constitutional definition of “person” and it had the benefit of simplicity. Yet, given again the related criminal liability for mother and...

Friday, October 31, 2008 Dishonesty   [Mark R. Levin] This is pathetic. Doug Kmiec, I remember when you came to my office at the Justice Department — where at the time I was serving as associate deputy attorney general under Attorney General Ed Meese — seeking an appointment.  I remember processing your papers and sending them to the White House for political clearance.  I remember advocating for your appointment to a deputy assistant attorney general post in the Office of Legal Counsel and securing your appointment.  And from there, Doug, you became the acting assistant attorney general for the Office of Legal...

This is pathetic. Doug Kmiec, I remember when you came to my office at the Justice Department — where at the time I was serving as associate deputy attorney general under Attorney General Ed Meese — seeking an appointment. I remember processing your papers and sending them to the White House for political clearance. I remember advocating for your appointment to a deputy assistant attorney general post in the Office of Legal Counsel and securing your appointment. And from there, Doug, you became the acting assistant attorney general for the Office of Legal Counsel in the last days of the...

A top advisor to Barack Obama says, if elected president, the Democratic candidate will look to appoint Supreme Court justices in the mold of Justices Stephen Breyer and David Souter. “Of course, he’s interested in people of integrity and competence, that’s a given,” Pepperdine University law professor Doug Kmiec told CNSNews.com. “He’s also indicated that he’s most attracted to the kind of justice represented by Justice Breyer and Justice Souter.” Kmiec, who supports Obama and has been serving as a campaign “surrogate” for the Illinois Democratic senator, said Obama admires the qualities Souter and Breyer represent. “These justices are individuals...

<p>In an address delivered on October 17, Archbishop Charles J. Chaput stated that ''Prof. Douglas Kmiec has a strong record of service to the Church and the nation in his past. But I think his activism for Senator Barack Obama, and the work of Democratic-friendly groups like Catholics United and Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good, have done a disservice to the Church, confused the natural priorities of Catholic social teaching, undermined the progress pro-lifers have made, and provided an excuse for some Catholics to abandon the abortion issue instead of fighting within their parties and at the ballot box to protect the unborn.''</p>

Barack Obama has held himself out as a bridge builder across even divisive issues. No topic fits that description more than abortion. In the final presidential debate Wednesday, Obama had seemingly finished giving his view on abortion when he added these words: Abortion is "always a tragic situation," he said, and we should "try to prevent unintended pregnancies by providing appropriate education to our youth, communicating that sexuality is sacred ... and providing options for adoption and helping single mothers if they want to choose to keep the baby. ... Nobody is pro-abortion. ... We should try to reduce these...

Doug Kmiec went to mass, as usual, at Our Lady of Malibu on Tuesday morning. Then he drove up the hill to his office to talk to me by phone about how a Republican Catholic opposed to abortion could endorse Barack Obama. You may recognize Kmiec's name. He teaches at Pepperdine University in California now, but he's a Chicago guy.

Please take the time to check Prof. Kmiec's website and respond to him at the address at the bottom of the post if you desire. I ask that you keep your correspondence polite and reasoned... If I receive a response I will post it.Prof. Kmiec, I could not help but send you a message concerning your support of Senator Obama's "Pro-Life" stance. I assure you I have no desire to attack you for your stance; I just want to understand something more of your motives. What I seek is further clarification of exactly what pro-life means, in your opinion. I...

As proof that "the best lie is a bold lie," I give you the quote of the day: "Can you be pro-life and support Senator Obama? The answer - upon even a moment's reflection - is 'unequivocally yes.'" (Doug Kmiec, ProLife-ProObama) Kmiec has jumped the shark. He had once crafted perhaps the single best justification argument for a pro-Obama vote, but now this ... this is all-out vote pandering.The idea that Catholics can honestly determine that Obama is pro-life "upon even a moment's reflection" is simply absurd beyond argument, looking at the facts. And deciding after a moment's reflection?...

Doug is being used by the supporters of Barrack Obama, a candidate who I labeled in my last article as an “Abortion Hawk” because of his unrelenting support of the undeclared war on the occupants of the once safe first home of the whole human race (the womb), precisely to make a theological, philosophical and allegedly “moral” argument for voting for Obama. Doug is the intelligent “Catholic scholar” they hope will help them to win more Catholics to the Obama candidacy. They have a serious “Catholic problem” because their candidate has absolutely promised to sign the so called “Freedom of...

Barack Obama is not giving up on faith-based voters. While polls seem to show voters stuck in same pattern as 2004, despite the Democrat's persistent outreach and God talk, the campaign is redoubling its efforts and rejecting suggestions that the Palin Effect has caused them to bail on the religious community. Obama's two top lieutenants in faith outreach came out to address dozens of reporters at the annual Religion Newswriters Association conference in Washington late this afternoon to pitch the campaign's new Faith, Family and Values Tour, which will launch next week with aides and representatives for the campaign (including...

On Wednesday I received a personal copy of my friend Doug Kmiec’s latest book entitled “Can a Catholic Support Him?” The book is subtitled “Asking the Big Question about Barrack Obama”. I appreciate being mentioned in his Acknowledgement of the book with these words “Deacon Keith Fournier’s writing and editing of Catholic Online is courageous and wise”. So, I write this review to be faithful, to a friendship I value, to the claim in the acknowledgment of this book and to the truth. Doug asks the wrong question. The proper question is not “can” but “should”. The word “can” addresses...

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Catholic attorney Douglas Kmiec, who claims to be pro-life, is continuing his defense of presidential candidate Barack Obama's pro-abortion position. In a new piece, Kmiec says he would have voted for a bill to protect newborns who survive botched abortions, but he can understand why Obama didn't. The debate comes on the heels of a new television ad running in battleground states that features a woman who survived a late-term abortion criticizing Obama for opposing the bill for medical care for infants who survive like her. In the article, Kmiec says he would have voted for...