"Here Come Da Judge! Here Come Da Judge."
So, friends, as we enter day three of the Sammie Alito confirmation hearings, it is time to take stock of what we've learned thus far.
One of the hot button issues is, of course, abortion. Alito is up for the seat vacated by Sandra Day O'Connor, who, despite her conservatism, routinely stood up for a woman's right to choose. The court currently rests in something of a deadlock, although newly appointed Chief Justice John Roberts has referred to Roe v. Wade as "settled law."
Whether Roberts is serious in this approach to precedent has yet to be seen, so the O'Connor seat is a big deal to Democrats and Republicans alike.
Alito, thus far in questioning, has expressed a respect for precedent. In respect to Roe v. Wade, however, he hasn't gone so far as to use the term "settled" despite attempts by Democratic lawmakers to urge him into such a statement.
The second day of hearings also brought a flurry of questions regarding Alito's membership in a Princeton alumni group which has, in the past, urged the university to abandon efforts to increase female and minority enrollment. When pressed, Alito was unable to remember the specifics of his membership in this group. Yeah....say Sammie, do you rent your DVD's at Wal-Mart.com?
The other real point of contention from day 2 concerned some conflicting statements and actions on the part of Alito. Seems at his confirmation hearings for a lower court in 1990, Alito pledged to recuse himself from any cases involving Vanguard Industries, a company in which he holds investments in the six figures.
Despite this pledge he did sit for a case involving Vanguard in 2002. He claims no wrongdoing and to not recuse himself was merely an oversight. He supporters back him up on this, and heck, if we can't trust them who can we trust?
One interesting position taken by Alito was the notion of the rigidity of the Bill of Rights. That is to say the Bill of Rights shall continue to exist as the law of the land even in times of war and crisis. Alito did not go so far as to condemn the warrantless wiretaps and surveillance being conducted by our current administration however.
The rest of the hearings thus far have been the standard confirmation stuff. Past decisions, opinions and positions are being torn apart in the search of inappropriate bias. Alito does have a track record of siding with the government and with big business, which sucks for me and most everyone reading this blog.
My personal feeling, and I'm not breaking ground here, is Alito will be confirmed rather easily. The republicans have a 10-seat advantage in the Senate, so it will take some convincing of the GOP to hold up this nomination. Either that or a filibuster on the part of the Democrats, which will of course result in the breaking loose of all hell.
We seem to have lucked out with Justice Roberts, who despite his pedigree appears to at least be a fair man. No earth-shattering cases have come before him as yet, so time will tell how his reign will affect progressive movement. Alito concerns me just a bit more. After the debacle with the nomination of his former cheerleader, the w. felt a need to hit a home run with his base.
So I guess the moral of this story is time will tell. I have to think the next president will get to nominate at least two justices of his own (look for Kennedy and the ageless Stevens to retire), so this is an exciting time for the Supreme Court. Should fortune finally smile on this nation again and a Democratic President and Senate be elected, there is no telling what sort of fight will take place over the nomination of "activist" judges.
Yeah, exciting stuff. Read your papers and watch your news. If that all fails, come back to your author. He'll make everything good.
Judiciously,
JeffRey
One of the hot button issues is, of course, abortion. Alito is up for the seat vacated by Sandra Day O'Connor, who, despite her conservatism, routinely stood up for a woman's right to choose. The court currently rests in something of a deadlock, although newly appointed Chief Justice John Roberts has referred to Roe v. Wade as "settled law."
Whether Roberts is serious in this approach to precedent has yet to be seen, so the O'Connor seat is a big deal to Democrats and Republicans alike.
Alito, thus far in questioning, has expressed a respect for precedent. In respect to Roe v. Wade, however, he hasn't gone so far as to use the term "settled" despite attempts by Democratic lawmakers to urge him into such a statement.
The second day of hearings also brought a flurry of questions regarding Alito's membership in a Princeton alumni group which has, in the past, urged the university to abandon efforts to increase female and minority enrollment. When pressed, Alito was unable to remember the specifics of his membership in this group. Yeah....say Sammie, do you rent your DVD's at Wal-Mart.com?
The other real point of contention from day 2 concerned some conflicting statements and actions on the part of Alito. Seems at his confirmation hearings for a lower court in 1990, Alito pledged to recuse himself from any cases involving Vanguard Industries, a company in which he holds investments in the six figures.
Despite this pledge he did sit for a case involving Vanguard in 2002. He claims no wrongdoing and to not recuse himself was merely an oversight. He supporters back him up on this, and heck, if we can't trust them who can we trust?
One interesting position taken by Alito was the notion of the rigidity of the Bill of Rights. That is to say the Bill of Rights shall continue to exist as the law of the land even in times of war and crisis. Alito did not go so far as to condemn the warrantless wiretaps and surveillance being conducted by our current administration however.
The rest of the hearings thus far have been the standard confirmation stuff. Past decisions, opinions and positions are being torn apart in the search of inappropriate bias. Alito does have a track record of siding with the government and with big business, which sucks for me and most everyone reading this blog.
My personal feeling, and I'm not breaking ground here, is Alito will be confirmed rather easily. The republicans have a 10-seat advantage in the Senate, so it will take some convincing of the GOP to hold up this nomination. Either that or a filibuster on the part of the Democrats, which will of course result in the breaking loose of all hell.
We seem to have lucked out with Justice Roberts, who despite his pedigree appears to at least be a fair man. No earth-shattering cases have come before him as yet, so time will tell how his reign will affect progressive movement. Alito concerns me just a bit more. After the debacle with the nomination of his former cheerleader, the w. felt a need to hit a home run with his base.
So I guess the moral of this story is time will tell. I have to think the next president will get to nominate at least two justices of his own (look for Kennedy and the ageless Stevens to retire), so this is an exciting time for the Supreme Court. Should fortune finally smile on this nation again and a Democratic President and Senate be elected, there is no telling what sort of fight will take place over the nomination of "activist" judges.
Yeah, exciting stuff. Read your papers and watch your news. If that all fails, come back to your author. He'll make everything good.
Judiciously,
JeffRey
posted by The Crazy Leftist at 8:54 AM
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