Abortion Foes Protest Speech by U.S. Justice

A small plane chartered by a Fundamentalist Baptist church circled over Loyola Marymount University’s commencement ceremonies Sunday afternoon, flying a banner calling for the death of Supreme Court Justice William J. Brennan Jr.

Brennan, 80, who was addressing graduates of the law school on the need to help the underprivileged, reportedly ignored the plane, which left the Westchester area minutes after he began to speak. The banner read, “Pray for death: baby-killer Brennan.”

The plane was hired by the Rev. Robert L. Hymers of the Fundamentalist Baptist Church in downtown Los Angeles.

At a service held across town at the same time as Brennan’s speech, Hymers implored about 350 followers gathered at the Ambassador Hotel to pray for the removal of the justice and for his replacement with someone who opposes abortion.

Brennan was one of seven jurists supporting the 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision that in effect legalized abortions. Earlier in the day, Hymers told reporters he would ask the congregation to pray for Brennan’s death, but he tempered his remarks by asking merely for the justice’s ouster.

The justice has “placed himself outside of Christian thought and morality,” Hymers told the congregation. He is “an enemy of the church and the Judeo-Christian ethic.”

Brennan, who has sat on the high court for nearly 30 years, suggested graduates might find they are able to help the disadvantaged by alternating legal work in the public sector with more lucrative private practice.