Remarks of
ROBERT M. PENNOYER
At the AFJ Dinner and Tribute to Bob Pennoyer
New York City, Sept. 26, 2013
All of you here tonight are the story of my life, friends I have worked with, played with and
laughed with from every decade from the 1930’s right down to my youngest grandchild, 12-year-old
Gigi, who skipped her homework to be here tonight. Tonight’s award really belongs to all of you. I am
only a proxy for each of you and for what you have done and are doing for the community and the
Nation.
First, I want to thank those who made tonight possible:
- Annette de la Renta, who has that rare touch of magic, for her incredible kindness and our
delightful friendship for over 40 years.
-Elizabeth McCormack; a legend in this town, still making history guiding philanthropy for the
good of the nation.
- My great friend Dick Parsons, one of the nation’s leading citizens, who made his mark in
government, law and business. He and his wife Laura became close friends of mine and my family
when he came to our firm, and he has been incredibly helpful in making tonight a success.
- Bill Moyers, my hero, the conscience of the nation.
- My extraordinary family, who came from near and far to make sure I behave.
- Friends from my firm whose record of pro bono service and diversity put the firm again this
year in the top ten of 550 firms nationwide rated by the American Lawyer.
- Friends who have given a lifetime of public service to the Metropolitan Museum and countless
other cultural and community based organizations that make this city great.
- And friends from countless political campaigns as far back as the 1960’s that made a
difference.
When Vicky and I were bringing up our young children we told them they had the right to be
wrong. I hope they and you will give me the same latitude tonight.
It will come as a surprise to none of you that I have some very strong views about where our
country is going. I am particularly concerned that the First Amendment’s separation of church and state
and our independent judiciary are under siege.
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The Religious Right
Most of you are not old enough to remember that night in 1960 when John F. Kennedy, the first
Catholic candidate for President, told the nation: “I believe in an America where the separation of
church and state is absolute….where no religious body seeks to impose its will directly or indirectly
upon the general populace or the public acts of its officials….”
What would Kennedy have said of the relentless campaign waged by the Religious Right over
the past thirty years to impose the right-to-life on the nation, or the 43 laws enacted so far this year
across the country restricting access to abortion?
It is time for the nation to confront the truth. The right-to-life is a religious doctrine that affirms
that terminating a pregnancy from the moment of conception is murder. The Constitution protects the
right to believe that doctrine. But this is America. Our greatest bulwark of freedom is the separation of
church and state under the First Amendment’s mandate that “Congress shall make no law respecting an
establishment of religion.” The same mandate applies to the states. Those conspiring to impose the
right-to-life on their community, on their state and on the nation are enemies of the Constitution. Who
are they? They are found in high places.
The Catholic hierarchy and some evangelical Protestant denominations who for years have
lobbied Congress and state legislatures to enact bills banning abortion.
The Republican Party which at last year’s National Convention adopted a Platform committed to
banning abortion with no exception.
Each of the nine Republican candidates for President who at last year’s debates promised, if
elected, to ban abortion without exception. To qualify for the Republican nomination for President they
promised to be traitors to the Constitution.
Every member of Congress and State legislatures who, behind a smoke screen of rhetoric about
protecting women’s health, votes to put the right-to-life into law by enacting bills intended to destroy a
woman’s right to terminate an unwanted pregnancy.
And some Catholic Justices on the Supreme Court who want to overturn Roe v. Wade knowing
that will trigger the enforcement of laws criminalizing abortion in 33 states.
The persecution over the past thirty years of women who do not conform to church doctrines on
abortion and contraception has polarized the nation and revived the sectarian strife rooted in the 18th
century when the colonies persecuted anyone who did not conform to the religion adopted by the
colony. The strife will continue until those who conspire to impose the right-to-life on the nation are
forced, with the help of the courts, to accept this simple truth: the Constitution takes precedence, over
any religion’s right-to-life doctrine. Until they accept that truth the strife will continue, because
millions of patriotic Americans with my Episcopal church, other denominations, and no denomination,
who believe that a woman has the moral right to terminate an unwanted pregnancy before viability, will
never, I repeat never, surrender our beliefs to the encroaching tyranny of the Religious Right.
My generation did not fight on the beaches of Normandy and Iwo Jima to surrender liberty to
those male dominated religions obsessed with doctrines from the middle ages.
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And so, with the help of Americans of every race, creed and color, we will break the Religious
Right's grip on government by electing candidates, including courageous women like Wendy Davis, to
every level of government, from school boards to state legislatures, state houses, Congress, the Senate
and the White House; candidates who will defend the separation of church and state, who will oppose
bills that put government in control of women’s bodies and destroy access to safe abortions, and who by
their appeal to reason, by the power of their example, will help lead the nation forward under a new
Battle Hymn of the Republic, trampling out the Tea Party where the grapes of wrath are stored.
The Alliance for Justice
You came here tonight to celebrate Nan Aron and the Alliance for Justice. What is the Alliance?
An association of over of 100 charitable organizations who joined because the causes they espouse
ultimately end up before the Courts where we need judges who, when they put on their robes, will put
politics aside and render impartial justice.
History teaches us that when organizing his new government in 1789 in no area did Washington
exert more painstaking effort than in selecting judges, for he regarded the judicial branch as “that
department which must be considered as the keystone of our political fabric.”
This theme has inspired Nan as she has worked for more than 30 years with the White House and
the Senate Judiciary Committee to secure the appointment of a diverse judiciary who will render
impartial justice. She led successful efforts to block some of the more extreme nominees, including
Robert Bork, and has helped to guide appointments which have greatly increased the diversity on the
bench through the appointment of women and minorities.
So Nan will continue to work for a fair judiciary, and to fill vacancies on the Federal Courts, now
at a record level because of obstruction by the Far Right among Senate Republicans. She needs our
help, and I can never adequately express my gratitude to you for helping her by being here tonight.
Because of you and the spirit in this room I am filled with hope for the future, and end with two
quotations: These words come from Winston Churchill’s Iron Curtain speech at Westminster College in
1946 at the beginning of the Cold War, words that are just as fresh tonight:
“The United States stands at this time at the pinnacle of world power. It is a solemn moment for
the American democracy. For with primacy of power is joined an awe inspiring accountability to the
future. If you look around you, you must feel not only the sense of duty done but also you must feel
anxiety lest you fall below the level of achievement. Opportunity is here now, clear and shining.”
The threat to liberty then was from without. The threat to liberty now is just as great, only it
comes from within.
And close with this prayer from my friend, Father Ted Hesburg, who for many years was
President of Notre Dame:
Oh Lord, to those of us who are hungry give food. To those of us who have food, make us
hungry for Justice.