President Obama has nominated an Alaska Supreme Court justice who earlier served on Planned Parenthood’s board and battled Big Oil over the Exxon Valdez spill to a seat on the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.
She also serves as a member of the Board of Directors for the Rasmuson Foundation and the Alaska Community Foundation.
“I am proud to nominate this outstanding candidate to serve on the United States Court of Appeals,” Obama said in a statement. “I am confident Justice Morgan Christen will serve the American people with integrity and distinction.”
Christen, who served as an Anchorage Superior Court Judge for seven years, was appointed in 2009 to the Alaska Supreme Court by then-Gov. Sarah Palin.
Christen’s 2009 appointment forced a difficult choice on Palin, who was required by the state Constitution to select from among the nominees sent to her by the seven-member Alaska Judicial Council. That council is made up of lawyers, public members appointed by governors and the state Supreme Court chief justice.
Palin took the unusual step of asking the Judicial Council to send her all information it had on the two finalists, Christen and another judge, Eric Smith.
The head of the Alaska Family Council — a Christian pro-family, anti-abortion group — urged Palin to pick Smith, not Christen. The group objected to Christen’s membership on the board of Planned Parenthood in the mid-1990s.
Wendy Wright, president of Concerned Women for America (CWA), told the Washington Times that the appointment has “caused many of us to take a step back. We’re surprised.”
Planned Parenthood is the nation’s to abortion provider, although, at the time, the office in Alaska did not offer surgical abortions. Critics of Planned Parenthood point to their racist and eugenics beginnings and say the group continues to target minorities for eugenics population control. A documentary film, called Maafa21 was produced in 2009 which details this in a factual and well documented manner.
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