The Democrat-controlled Senate Judiciary committee once again deferred a vote on the court of appeals nomination of Steve Six.

This is great news for pro-lifers in the 10th circuit states of Kansas, Colorado, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming, and dismal news for the abortion interests suing new pro-life laws in those states, which—on appeal—could go to the very court Six wants to join.

The delayed vote came despite a letter campaign of support from deans of his alma mater law school, past Kansas AG Bob Stephan and 29 Attorneys General.

But it was the letter from the retired judge, Deanell Tacha, whom Six wants to replace, and for whom he clerked in 1993-94, that was the most telling: Tacha seemed to promise that his protection of abortion interests under Gov. Sebelius was over! Tacha’s letter was quoted by the Associated Press andLJWorld as saying:

“Six had to make difficult decisions as attorney general and as an appellate judge he wouldn’t be required to factor in policy calls that are required in the executive branch.”

“Instead, I know from working closely with him in my chambers that he would remain fully committed to limiting his role to interpreting the legal precedent faithfully and constraining himself to the proper role of the judiciary,” she wrote.

In other words, the Senate is being told to overlook Six’s political abortion-protecting actions because they were ‘policy calls’ by the executive branch (Gov. Sebelius)! Those actions by Six include:

• Fighting grand jury subpoenas for abortion records –hyper-cleansed of identifying info under state Supreme Court rules– by falsely claiming a privacy threat (see legal news);
• Joining Planned Parenthood in working to extricate criminal evidence in the possession of the prosecutor (Phill Kline) and the judge (Richard Anderson);
• Helping the Sebelius administration insulate state reports from technical verification in court— a function of his civil, not criminal division, that Six cleverly concealed from the Senate committee interview.

We applaud Kansas’ two senators, Republicans Pat Roberts and Jerry Moran, who have remained opposed to Six’s confirmation.

Steve Six should withdraw his name, even if a judgeship was a promised reward from Sebelius for stepping in to protect abortion interests in Kansas.