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DeWine's position is a stark departure from the conciliatory tone he struck as one of seven Republicans and seven Democrats who brokered the compromise earlier this year.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Congressman Tom Tancredo (R-CO) praised President Bush’s nomination of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court. “Samuel Alito is by all accounts a dedicated public servant and brilliant legal scholar who works well with his colleagues,” said Tancredo. “Most importantly, he has a solid track record of 15 years as a circuit court judge. Today, faithful conservatives are yelling ‘Yes!’” Tancredo was one of the first Congressmen to voice concern about President Bush’s prior Supreme Court pick, Harriet Miers, because she lacked a strong background in Constitutional law and a known judicial philosophy. Tancredo continued, “The Republican base...

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) today made the following statement on the nomination of Judge Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court. Graham is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. “Judge Alito is one of the most distinguished individuals to ever be nominated to the Supreme Court. His qualifications are beyond reproach. As a judge, he has compiled a long track record showing he is a strict constructionist. With this choice President Bush continues to fulfill his campaign promise to appoint strict constructionists to the Supreme Court. “The American people have rejected liberal judicial activism from the...

Following Harriet Miers, who removed her name from consideration, Bush today nominated Judge Samuel Alito -- who has nineteen years experience at various judicial levels, including the federal one -- as his present choice to replace retiring U.S. Supreme Court justice, Sandra Day O'Connor, a swing vote who swung in many directions during her years on the high court. Miers had an unclear past, as far as conservatives were concerned. Then, her nomination flags went from doubt to danger when some liberals came out in support of her. The motivation for these liberals to do that was both unlikely and...

                           41 ALITO, Circuit Judge, concurring in the judgment. I do not join Judge Barry's opinion, which was never necessary and is now obsolete. That opinion fails to discuss the one authority that dictates the result in this appeal, namely, the Supreme Court's decision in Stenberg v. Carhart, 2000 WL 825889 (U.S. June 28, 2000). Our responsibility as a lower court is to follow and apply controlling Supreme Court precedent. I write briefly to explain why Carhart requires us to affirm the decision of the District Court in this case. This is an appeal by the New Jersey State Legislature...

George W. Bush's administration has come through what many have been saying would be its worst week, and it has turned out to be -- well, if not one of the best, then one that is far more encouraging than most of the mainstream media expected. Four events, or non-events, have put the administration in a position to make progress and advance the standing of the president and his party in public policy and in the public opinion polls. The first of these events, at least in world importance, was the announcement on Oct. 25 of the approval of the...

A conservative friend and political animal called the other day. This was before Harriet Miers officially became a bit player in the quasi-comedy, quasi-tragedy that Bush administration No. 2 became this past week. In this production, Ms. Miers went from a co-star to bit player in about 30 days. If she had any speaking lines at all, we already can’t remember them. Anyway, our friend had a question for the Charles Krauthammers, George Wills, Bill Kristols and other card-carrying, TV-appearing members of the Conservative Intelligentsia who formed the popular front against Ms. ex-Nominee. The question: So what if Harriet Miers...

WELL, THAT'S MORE LIKE IT. In Judge Sam Alito, President Bush has chosen a more plausible High Court nominee. Make that a much more plausible nominee. His legal qualifications are exceptional, his character widely attested. And having spent 15 years on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, he has demonstrated an approach to judging that clearly identifies him as a judicial conservative. Two points are worth noting on day one of this nomination. The first is Alito's legal experience. His many years on the Third Circuit mean that he knows the labor of an appellate judge,...

Contact: Tracey Schmitt 202-863-8614 WASHINGTON –RNC Chairman Ken Mehlman issued the following statement on Senator Chuck Schumer’s political attacks on Supreme Court nominee, Judge Samuel Alito.“Earlier this year, Senator Schumer showed us that he was willing to use Hurricane Katrina to raise campaign cash.  It was wrong to politicize a natural disaster and it's wrong to distort what should be a thoughtful and deliberate process to place an eminently qualified judge on the High Court.  This isn’t the first time that Senator Schumer has made ominous threats about a nomination to further his political and fundraising goals.  Senator Schumer needs...

When Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. accepted his nomination to the Supreme Court with President Bush standing over his shoulder like a proud father, Alito dropped an unsubtle hint that he will be tough to mess with. "I argued my first case before the Supreme Court in 1982, and I still vividly recall that day," said Alito, who was put on the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals, in Philadelphia, by Bush's father. Underscore "first"; this is a lawyer who's been in the end zone before.

The office of Sen. Jon Kyl (R.-Ariz.) released a letter he sent to Time magazine correcting multiple falsehoods in an article about his role in Harriet Miers nomination to the U.S. Supreme Court. In the November 7 issue of Time, an article by Massimo Calabresi ("Kyl-ling Her Softly") accused Sen. Kyl, Chairman of the Senate Republican Policy Committee, of being "the man most responsible for taking Miers down." The article quotes "a G.O.P. staff member" that from "Day One" the conservative "[Kyl] was trying to kill Miers." Time also accused Kyl of organizing "internal whisper campaigns" and claimed "that the...

When Harriet Miers’ nomination was first announced, George Washington University law professor Jonathan Turley called her an “amazingly bad choice.” This morning, he weighed in Samuel Alito:JONATHAN TURLEY: He’s the top choice for particularly pro-life people. Sam Alito is viewed as someone who is likely to join the hard right in likely narrowing Roe and possibly voting to overturn Roe. KATIE COURIC: So he is a strict constructionist in every since of the word? I know President Bush is looking for a conservative jurist, so he fits the bill in terms of someone who will interpret the Constitution literally and...

Conservatives and constitutionalists are lining up to praise W's choice of Samuel Alito. Heritage Foundation press release: "President Bush has made an outstanding choice in nominating Judge Samuel Alito for the Supreme Court. Judge Alito is a distinguished scholar, a gifted lawyer with broad and impressive experience, and is known in the bar as one of the greatest appellate judges in America today." [...] "Judge Alito also has the personal characteristics and dedication to the rule of law that will make him a renowned justice of the Supreme Court. He is a humble man with the highest integrity, an even...

As President Bush prepares to make a new appointment to the Supreme Court, the lessons of the failed Miers nomination are still being absorbed. One that deserves study is how a lightning-fast news cycle, a flat-footed defense and the growth of new media such as talk radio and blogs sank Ms. Miers's chances even before the megabuck special-interest groups could unload their first TV ad. Ms. Miers herself has told friends that she was astonished at how the Internet became a conveyor belt for skeptical mainstream media reports on her in addition to helping drive the debate.

SNIP - ALITO DISSENTING OPINION Maj. Op. at ----. In other words, the majority argues in effect that the private, purely intrastate possession of machine guns has a substantial effect on the interstate machine gun market. This theory, if accepted, would go far toward converting Congress's authority to regulate interstate commerce into "a plenary police power." Lopez, --- U.S. at ----, 115 S.Ct. at 1633. If there is any sort of interstate market for a commodity--and I think that it is safe to assume that there is some sort of interstate market for practically everything--then the purely intrastate possession of...

ACTION NEEDED! New Nominee a Threat to Reproductive Rights Dear xxxxxx, Roe Hangs in the Balance Since the 1973 landmark Roe v. Wade decision, the number of justices willing to affirm the right to choose has decreased. » 1973 Roe v. Wade was decided: Seven justices supported a woman's right to choose. » 1992 Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey was decided: We were down to five justices who supported a woman's right to choose. » 2000 Stenberg v. Carhart was decided: The court was split five to four, with five ruling that a woman's health must be the...

One thing you're going to hear a lot of, with Samuel Alito the next nominee for the Supreme Court, is Judge Alito's dissent in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the big 1992 abortion case that passed through the Third Circuit on its way to the Supreme Court. Patterico takes a close look at that dissent, and you should go check that out. But what's even more interesting about potentially staging a big fight over Alito's ruling in the Casey decision is the identity of the defendant in that case, the governor who signed into law and defended in court the abortion...

They Said It!: Sens. Ted Kennedy (D-MA), Frank Lautenberg (D-NJ), And Former Sen. Bill Bradley (D-NJ) On Samuel Alito(title shortened for length)SEN. TED KENNEDY (D-MA): “You Have Obviously Had A Very Distinguished Record, And I Certainly Commend You For Long Service In The Public Interest. I Think It Is A Very Commendable Career And I Am Sure You Will Have A Successful One As A Judge.” (Sen. Ted Kennedy, Committee On The Judiciary, U.S. Senate, Hearing, 4/5/90)SEN. FRANK LAUTENBERG (D-NJ): “I Believe Mr. Alito Has The Experience And The Skills To Be The Kind Of Judge The Public Deserves –...

With the announcement of a new Supreme Court nominee expected as early as Monday, Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic leader, warned President Bush on Sunday not to pick one of the candidates said to be on the president's short list, Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. "I think it would create a lot of problems," Mr. Reid said on "Late Edition" on CNN. Republicans close to the selection process said over the weekend that as Mr. Bush neared a final decision, Judge Alito, of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, remained a leading candidate, along...

Per Fox News...