Last week’s confirmation of Justice Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court wasn’t the end of the judicial watch for pro-choice advocates. A president’s nominations to the lower federal courts is just as important as the president’s nominees to SCOTUS. Federal judges are appointed for life, and their influence can be felt long after a president has left the White House. So far, most of Obama’s judicial nominees have been stonewalled in the Senate. The Republicans may have been cooperative on approving Sotomayor, but they’re not playing ball with other judicial appointments.

This week’s “Better Know a Judicial Nominee” is Down E. Johnsen. Johnsen is Obama’s pick to head the Justice Department’s influential Office of Legal Counsel (OLC). Johnsen is a constitutional law professor at the Maurer School of Law at Indiana University. She served as an assistant attorney general under the Clinton administration. He nomination is opposed by Republicans because she is a very staunch pro-choice advocate. She also opposes the Bush administration’s War on Terror policies and would support a return to civil liberties protections if she is confirmed to the Office of Legal Counsel. She has served as a lawyer for the ACLU and NARAL, where she directed their legal and policy campaigns.

Despite Johnsen’s impressive resume and undeniable qualification for the OLC job, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has not been pushing to get her nomination confirmed. Let’s get the ball rolling on this, folks. Send Harry Reid an e-mail and let him know that you support Dawn Johnsen’s nomination to the Office of Legal Counsel.

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