Senate Judiciary Committee Approves Another Anti-Woman Nominee

The Senate Judiciary Committee approved another one of President Bush’s far-right, anti-woman judicial nominees late last week. Tim Tymkovich, a lawyer from Denver who has been a strong opponent of women’s rights, abortion rights and gay rights, was approved with a party line vote of 10-6, with three Democrats not voting. The full Senate will next consider Tymkovich’s nomination to the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, although a vote has yet to be scheduled.

In Hern v. Beye, Tymkovich argued that the state of Colorado should not have to provide Medicaid funds for poor Colorado women seeking abortions for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest. When his arguments were denied by the lower court and the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals, Tymkovich took the case all the way to the US Supreme Court – which refused to hear it. Three months later, he testified before a US Senate panel that a federal law requiring Colorado provide Medicaid funds to poor women for abortions for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest was “federal intrusion into matters of state concern,” according to the American Association of University Women (AAUW).

Tymkovich also appealed a case to the US Supreme Court in which he argued that the plaintiffs in Roberts v. Colorado State Board of Agriculture, who were claiming that the discontinuation of funding for a girls’ fast pitch softball team violated Title IX, had to prove intentional discrimination in order to have a viable claim. After the lower court and the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Tymkovich’s arguments were a misinterpretation of Title IX, Tymkovich continued to appeal this case to the high court – which refused to hear the case.

As the former Solicitor General of Colorado, Tymkovich defended the state’s anti-gay Amendment 2 – which later was invalidated by the US Supreme Court. Tymkovich argued that the Amendment 2 only prohibited “special rights” for gay and lesbian individuals and cited statistics that showed that gay and lesbian individuals “have higher incomes than heterosexual individuals and claimed, therefore, that there was no need for anti-discrimination protection,” according to the AAUW.

The Feminist Majority joins a large coalition of women’s rights, civil rights, gay and lesbian rights and other progressive groups in opposing Tymkovich’s lifelong nomination to the court of last resort for Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Utah and Wyoming.

TAKE ACTION Thank Senators and Urge Them to Continue to Vote No on Cloture on the Nomination of Estrada

Media Resources: Scripps Howard News Service 3/7/03; New York Times 3/6/03; AAUW 3/5/03

© Feminist Majority Foundation, publisher of Ms. magazine

If you liked this story, consider making a tax-deductible donation to support Ms. magazine.