Posted on 02/01/2006 7:19:21 AM PST by katieanna
WHITE HOUSE There'll be a ceremonial swearing-in at the White House this morning for the newest member of the Supreme Court, justice Samuel Alito.
Chief Justice John Roberts administered the oath in a private ceremony yesterday, allowing the newly confirmed Alito to take his seat with other members of the high court last night at President Bush's State of the Union address.
After the private welcome, Alito was quickly confronted with emergency appeals in three death-row cases. He bowed out as colleagues settled them.
Let's start off the party with a rejection of McCain-Feingold. :) C'mon, Sam!
4:30 PM.when Bush returns from his trip...it will be live..
That would be an excellent start.
You know, I DO hope that Alito makes a difference in the SC. I hope that some of these insanely uncostitutional programs can be struck down.
thank you, Ken. Now, I have to ask: are you a beltway insider? Kate
I had Fox on..heard them say it..
I found it a little amusing that Justice Alito seemed to be looking at Breyer a couple of times since he wasn't quite sure of himself. Looked like maybe he didn't know when it was proper to stand or applaud so he had to watch the others. Must be tough being the new guy. GWB spoke to Breyer a couple of times. I wondered if maybe it had something to do with him moving up in seniority on the court now. ;)
is Justice Kennedy conservative enough for that to happen?
i agree with the celebration of this victory but i think it only brought us to 4/9ths not 5/9ths.
I agree with your assesment and am frustrated that people keep forgetting this issue. Rehnquist was my least favorite of the conservative triumvirate (I ranked them Thomas, Scalia, Rehnquist), so perhaps there is room for Robert to move the court maybe 0.1 seat to the right. Now O'Connor was all over the map, so conservatives may have picked up as much as half a seat with Alito. As much as I dislike many of the things Bush has done, he seems to be getting this one right, and I'm surprising myself by finding it's almost the only thing that matters when I take his measure.
Now, on the bright side, liberals are at the edge of the abyss on each vote, and cannot lose even a single vote, but that's not the same as saying numerous conservative decisions are likely. So these two apointments are an improvement, and a very significant one, but at least one more is needed. Perhaps even from the next POTUS.
It looks like it.... Flashback 2003: Justice Anthony Kennedy's Dissent on McCain-Feingold
It would be really good to get another at least semi-conservative in the Presidency to keep the hammer down on these scotus nominations. If only we could get someone with more guts and sense than McCain, and more conservative than Giuliani. I suspect either of them would have a pro-choice litmus test.
It may well have had to do with Breyer moving up, quite literally. When the justices are on the bench, they sit in seniority order, except for the Chief, who is always in the middle. Breyer has been the junior justice, occupying the seat on the far right as you look at the bench (some irony there), for longer than any other justice in recent memory. He would have moved when Roberts came on the Court, except Roberts' nomination was changed so that instead of replacing O'Connor, he replaced Rhenquist as Chief. With Alito now replacing O'Connor, Breyer finally gets to move out of the junior justice chair.
McCain is (or at least used to be...) pro-life.
I think I'd rather have Kennedy as the swing vote than O'Connor.
In essence that's what I was saying. Now instead of 3 somewhat reliable votes, one wobbler, and 5 liberals of various degree, there are four solid votes. So this is a significant improvement, but not yet decisive.
Actually, I should say we HOPE there are now four reliable votes. Never forget the lesson of David Souter.
Awesome timing having him sworn in for the speech. I loved watcing him parade in. He was looking around like a new kid on the block. It had to be an exciting day for him, and his wife.
The Jr. Justice is also required to open the door during conferences and make the coffee.
Must be tough being the new guy - as was Roberts, it was his first SOTU
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