Alito stated in a 1985 application to be Deputy Assistant Attorney General: "I am particularly proud of my contributions in recent cases in which the government has argued in the Supreme Court that racial and ethnic quotas should not be allowed and that the Constitution does not protect a right to abortion." For good measure, he added, "I am and always have been a conservative."
Alito replaced the moderate Justice Sandra Day O'Connor on the nation's high court. The obvious shift to the right caused by the addition of Roberts and Alito led Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer to observe: "It is not often in the law that so few have so quickly changed so much."
8. Paul Bonicelli
In October 2005, Paul Bonicelli was appointed as Deputy Assistant Administrator for the US international development agency's Bureau for Democracy, Conflict and Humanitarian Assistance (DCHA). Bonicelli's main prior claim to fame was being Dean of Academic Affairs at the fundamentalist Patrick Henry College, where the Student Honor Code mandates: "I will reserve sexual activity for the sanctity of marriage." Patrick Henry College also has a 10-part Statement of Faith which says that hell is a place where "all who die outside of Christ shall be confined in conscious torment for eternity."
Bonicelli's current office at DCHA is responsible for: ''strengthening the rule of law and respect for human rights; promoting more genuine and competitive elections and political processes; increasing development of a politically active civil society; and implementing a more transparent and accountable governance.''
9. Eric Keroak
In 2006, Bush tapped Eric Keroack to be Deputy Assistant Secretary for Population Affairs at the Health and Human Services Department. Keroack opposes contraception, has described premarital sex as "modern germ warfare," and espouses the bizarre, unscientific belief that casual sex depletes "bonding" hormones. He was previously medical director of a Christian pregnancy counseling service which described contraception as "demeaning to women."
And that's who the Bush administration chose to oversee the distribution of $283 million in family planning funds for the nation.
Keroack resigned in March 2007, after state Medicaid officials began taking action against his private medical practice.
10. Susan Orr
Keroack was replaced by Susan Orr, who had been "Senior Director for Marriage and Families" at the anti-gay, anti-reproductive rights Family Research Council. In her prior career, Orr had opposed the emergency contraception RU-486 and gushed that Bush was "pro-life ... in his heart" for withholding funds from international family planning groups which even discussed abortion.
Orr has claimed that contraception is "not a medical necessity." Yet she now is in charge of facilitating access to both contraception and sex education for low-income families across the nation.
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While presidential candidate George W. Bush insisted that he would put "competent judges on the bench, people who will strictly interpret the Constitution and will not use the bench to write social policy," his judicial and other appointments have proven otherwise. And these appointees will not leave office when Bush does.
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1. Oppose the nomination of Richard Honaker
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