By Kathleen Gilbert
WASHINGTON, D.C., March 13, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The U.S. Senate yesterday confirmed David Ogden as the next deputy attorney general, ignoring a flood of protest against Ogden’s extensive record in defending pornography. Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) joined the senators in voting in favor of Ogden, despite having been chief sponsor of the Children’s Internet Protection Act, an act designed to keep porn off public library computers that Ogden opposed.
In 2003, Ogden wrote a brief on behalf of fifteen library directors objecting to the Protection Act, claiming that, “By demanding that libraries be censors and devote resources – not to facilitating – but to interfering with patrons’ pursuit of information and ideas, Congress has subverted the role of librarians and public libraries and violated the First Amendment rights of library patrons.”
The vote was split down party lines, except for eleven Republicans who voted in favor: Senators Alexander (TN), Bond (MO), Collins (ME), Graham (SC), Gregg (NH), Kyl (AZ), Lugar (IN), McCain (AZ), Snowe (ME), Specter (PA), and Voinovich (OH). One Democrat, Sen. Casey of Pennsylvania, voted against the nomination. Ogden was sworn in today by Attorney General Eric Holder Jr.
Pro-family voices issued a volley of opposition to prevent the confirmation after Ogden was nominated by President Obama earlier this year. Ogden’s record, they pointed out, shows a steady predilection for defending the pornography industry. He has represented clients including Playboy, Penthouse, ACLU, and the Consenting Adults Telephone Rights Association in numerous cases.
In his private practice, the 55-year-old lawyer has also established himself as completely opposed to legal protections both for the unborn and for traditional marriage.
“David Ogden is a hired gun from Playboy and ACLU. He can’t run from his long record of opposing common sense laws protecting families, women, and children,” said Brian Burch, President of Fidelis, a pro-family watchdog group that assembled a dossier on Ogden’s porn background.
The Senate Judiciary Committee’s top Republican, Sen. Arlen Specter, reportedly told National Public Radio that he had never seen so much opposition from voters against a nominee. According to Specter 11,000 phone calls, letters and other contacts poured in to the committee by the beginning of March protesting the Ogden pick.
Ogden insisted to the Judiciary Committee at his confirmation hearing last month that “child pornography is abhorrent,” and otherwise downplayed his extreme record. Burch described Ogden’s words as “a textbook example of an ambitious nominee saying whatever he needs to say to get the votes for confirmation.”
Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, dismissed pro-family advocates’ alarm over Ogden as “a scurrilous attack on him.”
However, according to Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., Ogden “is more than just a lawyer who has had a few unsavory clients. He has devoted a substantial part of his career, case after case, for 20 years, in defense of pornography.”
Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., said he was “alarmed that President Obama has nominated a candidate to serve in the No. 2 post at the Department of Justice who has repeatedly represented the pornography industry and its interests,” calling Ogden’s record “shocking.”
See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Family Advocates: Ask the Senate to Stop the Child Porn Lawyer from Becoming Dep. Attorney General
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/mar/09030301.html
Obama Close to Selecting Child Porn Lawyer Ogden
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/feb/09021312.html
Porn Lawyer Has a ‘Confirmation Conversion’ at Senate Hearing
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/feb/09020603.html
Obama Picks Porn Lawyer for #2 at Justice
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2009/feb/09020401.html