The Washington Post in the above linked editorial makes the following statement:
The stakes are high, as they always are with Supreme Court nominations and because in this particular instance, Judge Alito would be replacing one of the court's swing voters.
At the same time, the hearings are unlikely to provide big surprises. Judge Alito, in any formal sense, is obviously well qualified -- as the American Bar Association recently recognized. Allegations of impropriety on his part seem trivial, and the ideological questions about him are well known: Does he have too limited a view of congressional power and too robust a view of states' rights? Will he respect privacy and abortion rights? Does he consider affirmative action programs presumptively unconstitutional? How broadly does he see presidential powers, particularly in wartime? What does he think now about the "one man, one vote" principle he appeared to question in the 1980s? Has he read civil rights statutes too narrowly? And perhaps most important, what are his views concerning how readily settled precedent should be disturbed?
The pundits are starting to discuss/debate/disagree on how and if the Democrats can stop his nomination. Will the filibuster happen, etc.
Hence my statement on the dance beginning. How much information will Alito offer? How hard will the Democrats push to discover what they want to know and how hard with the Republicans push for the same? I predict he will answer very little, similar to Roberts. That the majority of the responses to questions asked about his work over 20 years ago will be "my personal position will have no relevance on my job as a Supreme Court Justice" or something similar. I have personal reservations on the precedence that is being created as far as the attempts to place so much emphasis on past documents from that long ago. While I understand why they should be looked it, his opinions and rulings from the bench should be the most looked at aspect of the hearings. How he rules as a judge now is a fairly accurate representation of how he would rule as a Supreme Court Justice.
There are questions, legitimate ones that should be asked. I fear however the majority of the rhetoric will not be on that. Let's hope I'm wrong....
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15 comments:
From what I have heard today in the opening statements, it is going to be a debate between liberal and conservative about one main issue. There are things besides abortion at stake and I don't want Alito to be confirmed, but don't think there is enough to filibuster him. My main concern is that an Alito confirmation could tilt decisions towards strengthening President Bush against other branches through terror issues that will be coming before SCOTUS
Unfornately you won'r be wrong, Lisa. I think that it will be close to a rerun of the Roberts confirmation. I wonder how many times committee members will politely tell Sen. Kennedy to move on and shut up and ask another question. The Democrats will try for days on end to find something to not confirm this judge. In the end, he will be confirmed and hundreds of manhours will be wasted and our taxes will go up again.
Agreed, Lisa. There will be less resistance at the Alito hearings than on a first date with Paris Hilton.
Ba-da-boom.
BTW - did you know that you and Stephanie are my interference-running interns according to this VNN idiot?
I protest! I started blogging first so you would have to be my intern! Nor do we agree on everything, but then that group doesn't seem overly concerned about little things like "facts"
I hadn't seen that particular VNN thread but I've seen some of the other "insanity" and had a few visits from "nikki".
:-)
The . She runs that site and Citizens Against Hate.
Unfortunately, some of those mild-mannered white supremacists - who are really about peace and love, doncha know - are putting up obscene fake sites to smear her.
Yes, I thought I was the novice and you were the Jedi Master...
I always wanted to be Yoda to somebody and now *sob* I find out I'm an intern...
Not the real nikki - I've seen her blog though too this is the Steve/Elmer/nikki -
:-)
I have to say though my favorite statement was made by Graham:
And is that what we want? Is that where we're going as a nation? Are we going to take one case and one issue, and if we don't get the answer we like that represents our political view on that issue, are we going to bring the judiciary to their knees? Are we going to say as a body, "It doesn't how matter how smart you are, how many cases you decided, how many things you've done in your life as a lawyer, forget about it; it all comes down to this one issue"?
Probably one of the few times I've ever agreed with Graham...
Lisa- to answer your question. Yes.
If people could focus on the big picture and see that other issues are important, our elections would go a lot different. But how many people voted for Bush solely on the same sex marriage issue and Kerry, well, because there wasn't another option
Lisa,
”Judge Alito would be replacing one of the court's swing voters.”
It is none of our business what supreme court justices do on their own time…
”Will the filibuster happen…”
Of course, what else do those who oppose Alito have to hang their hat on?
”There are questions, legitimate ones that should be asked. I fear however the majority of the rhetoric will not be on that. Let's hope I'm wrong....”
Amen to that!
As I’ve said before, the players all have their parts to play, they should just play them. The President gets to pick the nominee and the Senate gets to certify that the candidate is qualified; something that the ABA has already weighed in on. The senate has no say in any perceived leaning that any candidate may or may not have. It has nothing to do with the candidates qualifications.
Dance or wrestling match, you be the judge…
That's true me4, one issue voters are just as much of an issue, realistically even larger of an issue since whoever ends up elected has a huge impact.
I don't agree with that either, because there is always more than one issue not to mention most times that one issue is so exaggerated by both sides..well you know that one.
HT, I think they do have a right as part of advise/consent/confirmation to make sure that a judge will rule according to the constitution and not to promote a personal agenda. However, I think that can be seen in this case by Alito's record. I don't feel though it should be the full press court that has become the confirmation process and I am willing to bet Graham was correct, there will one day be a Democrat as President and then? The Democrats probably won't want the same rules applied to their nominees that they have demanded the Republicans submit to....
"Judge Alito, in any formal sense, is obviously well qualified..."
That said what I needed to hear, after that it only is a matter of political mud slinging by those not fit to stand next to him. I equate his detractors to the little pip squeek in the movie, People Will Talk, the one who did everything possible to disrupt the career of a brilliant Doctor who had a strange friend, one of dubious history. The line near the end of the movie covered how I feel, "Now you are even smaller than you were before"
historymike,
Too bad it isn't a paid internship. :-(
However, my husband agrees with you and strongly urges me to ignore them. Maybe, just maybe, I'll listen.
(Yeah, Lisa, I doubt it too.)
As for Alito, being the conservative that I am, I hope he gets the confirmation he deserves with as little fuss as possible. As someone who tries to be a responsible citizen, I truly hope that conservative politicians do NOT throw the same sort of temper tantrum these liberal politicians are throwing when the roles are reversed. Getting a judge confirmed, whether it's SC or not, should be a fairly simple and direct process. The Pres nominates, the Senate investigates QUALIFICATIONS and confirms or withholds confirmation based solely on QUALIFICATIONS not political leanings. The political leanings aspect is covered by the Pres who won HIS/HER election, not by the way the Senate feels about the matter.
At least, that's the way it's supposed to work. Hopefully it will work that way once again. After all, all this adolescent partisan bickering is one of the reasons why Vote Out Incumbents for Democrats was founded and is taking such a hold on the people. We want it to stop. We want these people to do the jobs they were elected to do.
I completely understand, Stephanie. The racists come out of the woodowrk when I post something about their movement, and they can be scary people at times.
I'm too naive to find them scary. That's my husband's job.
;-)
I tell him when he's doing stupid, dangerous things (like working on electrical outlets without turning off the power) and he tells me when I'm doing stupid, dangerous things like debating with militant thugs. Not necessarily the most practical approach to life on earth, but it works for us!
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