28 Jul 2003 Maybe the Senator Thinks Oliver Brown Sued the Topeka Board of Education Because He Liked Segregated Classrooms

Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) has it wrong. The occasion this time it is his observation in the Sunday New York Times about those who say the Senate Democrats’ resistance to pro-life judicial nominees amounts to a de facto anti-Catholic bias.

Like many Americans of Irish descent, Senator Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, the ranking Democrat on Judiciary, said he grew up hearing his father talk about the bad old days when Irish Catholics were greeted with signs saying they “need not apply.” He added, “It was a horrible part of our history, and it’s almost like you have people willing to rekindle that for a short-term political gain, for a couple of judges.”

No, Senator, speaking up against perceived anti-Catholic bias is not “rekindling” bias — it is fighting it.